Between 1300’s and 1700’s was the time of the Renaissance. During this time, astronomy inflated with discoveries. There were multiple advanced astronomers; two astronomers who made an enormous influence on the Copernican theory were Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. Although the Copernican theory was established by Nicolaus Copernicus, it was Kepler and Galileo who greatly impacted it. Without the help of Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler, the Copernican theory would not have been proven and remembered. During the Renaissance, astronomy advanced and excelled rapidly thanks to many significant astronomers. Before the Copernican theory was established, Aristotle had a cosmological theory that stated that the Earth was the center of cosmos, …show more content…
Galileo heard about a telescope being made and tried it out himself. He created his own telescope and pointed it out into space. There he found that there were four small moons circling around Jupiter, while Jupiter went around the sun (Voelker 17). Since Jupiter revolved around the sun, that meant other planets had to also. “The fact that the moons revolved in the plane of Jupiter rotations implied that the moons were being swept around by a planet-moving force coming from Jupiter” (Voelker 71). Basically Voelker is saying, that the moons are moved by Jupiter’s rotation and gravity, showing that Jupiter is the center for those moons. When Galileo was looking through his telescope, he observed that Venus was in a different phase each day. He recorded that Venus goes through phase changes like the moon, which meant that Venus had to be revolving around the sun (Frey 392). “Galileo saw that Venus had all the phase changes that the moon had, so it could not be orbiting Earth. More and more evidence was being found to support the Copernican Theory.” In this comment Hightower made on page 63, he argued that Venus’s phase changes inferred that Venus was not revolving around the Earth. “Galileo’s work was more important than just scientific discoveries. He provided ample evidence that Aristotle was wrong in many things” (64). Hightower agrees with the fact that Galileo …show more content…
One struggle with the Church that he faced was being forced into changing the title of one of his books. The original title of the book was, Dialogue on the Ebb and Flow of the Sea, but Galileo was forced to change it so it did not seem like he was pushing the fact that the tides supported his opinion and the new title also appeared more theoretical (Leveillee). The church only wanted Galileo’s writing to be discussed as a theory, because they did not believe that it was correct.. They did not want his writings to show more evidence or to be proven (Hightower 63). These instructions did not stop Galileo. Later on, Galileo published a book that cleverly took the side of the Copernican theory without disobeying his rules (Frey 393). The Church restricted Galileo because they did not agree with what he was saying. “The Church disapproved of this theory because the holy scriptures state that the Earth is the center, not the sun. As the contents of the Bible were taken literally, the publishing of these books proved, to the Church, that Copernicus and Galileo were sinners; they preached, through their writing that the Bible was wrong” (Leveillee). Since the Church believed that this system was false and erroneous (Hightower 72), Galileo was confined with his writings. With all of Galileo’s writings out, news spread about this interesting theory and Church officials feared that attacks on the geocentric
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Show MoreGalileo Galilei was believed to be a heretic for opposing the belief of the Catholic Church, despite him being scientifically correct. With the invention of the telescope, Galileo Galilei had the ability to study the function of the universe and publish his scientific observations, raising the attention of the Catholic Church. Heliocentrism and the Catholic Church Timeline, states “The Catholic Church told Galileo to stop sharing his theory in public in the year of 1615. Along with that, the Catholic Church added Copernicus’s work (and others supporting the heliocentric model to its list of banned books)” (Doc A :Timeline).
The historical changes in thought and belief to change in social and institutional organization period, between the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and Isaac Newton is Scientific Revolution. As many historians declare that, the Scientific Revolution began with Copernicus and ended with Newton 150 years later. The later half of this century saw minds such as Descartes, Newton, Leibniz, and Galileo begin to change scientific thought. The Scientific Revolution provide a good exercise for people think. The Scientific Revolution began during the 17th century and became a catalyst for a new philosophy, economics, politics and religion, that permeated every level of human society and placed the emphasis for change on humanity rather than intangible
During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, many scientists had developed a new perspective on the world around them. Scientists such as Galileo and Copernicus envisioned a world where natural phenomenons could be proved through experimentation. Furthermore, the work of scientists during this time period were affected by the approval of political figures, the support from influential members of the church, and social factors that influenced the development and acceptance of new theories. To powerful political figures, scientific theories were regarded as an opportunity to gain power and money.
He realized that, while science and religion may be able to agree, the Church did not agree with science, and instead sided with a literal interpretation of the Bible. After he expressed his opinions, Galileo was forced to denounce them in an inquisition (EBD). The church believed Galileo to be going against faith, and put him on trial under threat of torture. This reaction to Galileo’s suggestions proves that the Church would not acknowledge the importance and truth to science, instead favoring their traditional view of the world.
After Galileo came out with his opinions on science and different ideas the church made him denounce his opinions Pope Paul VIII was the first person to second guest galileo and call for the inquisition. Galileo also refined the design of the telescope which developed a tool that could magnify eight times and caused controversy among science and the church. After having Galileo denounce his finding the church became more opposed to science due to
By using his eyes, Galileo confirmed the heliocentric theory and created his own in reply: the Copernican theory. His theory stated that the sun was at the center of the universe, with the earth and other planets rotating around it in elliptical paths and at uniform speeds. Copernicus had used Bacon’s implications that “seeing is believing.” He also theorized that the other planets were made of substances similar to those found on earth. These two ideas even furthered the notion that humans were not special to God because they inhabited an earth that looked like all the other planets.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer who disagreed with the Roman Catholic theory of geocentrism. He was not a heretic because he was a Christian and had similar beliefs to the Roman Catholics, but he did not agree with the Church’s theory of the position and movement of Earth in the Solar System. Document A is an excerpt of a letter to Duchess Christina of Tuscany written by Galilei, counter-arguing the heresy claims. In the letter, Galileo wrote, “Can an opinion be heretical and yet have no concern with the salvation of souls?” Although he did not believe in the astronomical theory of the Church, he believed that his scientific thoughts should not interfere with his religious beliefs.
During the Middle Ages a Roman Astronomer named Ptolemy came up with the theory that all surrounding planets orbited around the Earth. Advancement in telescopes and technology helped Copernicus during the renaissance create a more logical and accurate theory which stated how the sun is in the middle of our universe and all planets orbited the sun. This changed the way man thought because it realized how small Earth is compared to the rest of the solar system and how we may not be
In Galileo’s letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615, he discusses clashes he and his work has had with members of the Church. He explains that his critics are so absorbed in their own observations and beliefs that they will not give his work proper respect or examination. Instead, these critics outright denounced his work and would often quote passages from the Bible to support their positions. However, Galileo was quick to point out that on many occasions the critics did not understand the true meaning behind the passage and misquoted and rendered their claim invalid. While Galileo may have disagreed with the fundamentals of the Bible, his negative attitude was mainly focused on his religious opponents.
The open-minded Galileo advocated that the earth revolves around the sun, with which few agreed during his lifetime,
He published these observations in the book Sidereus Nuncius (1610). The Catholic Church had formerly opposed Copernicus already in 1543, and met Galileo with the same opposition. The Church declared any documents on heliocentric theory were to be banned and considered heretical in 1616. That same year, Galileo proposed a new theory regarding tides, and three years later one regarding comets, claiming these as proof of the earth’s motion. Eventually in 1632, Galileo published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which became very popular, much to the alarm of the Catholic Church.
The condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Catholic Church in the early 1600s for his scientific findings about the Sun and Earth was a midoing but inevitable due to common complacent beliefs and the religious doctrine of the time period. For instance, in this era the Catholic Church and their interpretation of the Bible reigned supreme and few people ever publicly either intentionally or unintentionally went against the Church’s beliefs and authority on fear of being accused of heresy[C]. The Catholic Church held the holy scriptures in so high regard that if any statement in any way contradicted the the Bible the author would be persecuted.
In Steven Shapin’s book, The Scientific Revolution, he described the massive scientific changes that occurred from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. Shapin utilizes the scientists and their findings to demonstrate the changes that affected Western civilization. He describes his theory of the Scientific Revolution as he proves that the world has always had scientific advances. Steven Shapin states his thesis which influenced the modern world, that the Scientific Revolution did not happen during a single time period through the use of the three essential questions: What was known, How was it known, and What was the Knowledge for.
Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory which claimed that the earth revolved around the sun. This immediately challenged the authorities who believed the opposite. Galileo furthered Copernicus’ argument and promoted that the Bible, that God
Galileo believes in the Bible and that God has supreme authority over the world, but he sees religion and science as two different things. It is not the purpose of the Bible to explain the physical world, it is there to save our souls. He makes three distinguishes: The Bible and Church have all matters of faith. , if any scientific finding if proven to be true but is against the teachings of the Bible, then we have not found the true meaning of the Bible, and anything not proven that is against the Bible must be