Galileo – Mountain Dreamers

Brig, Soren and Reidar-

Galileo was imprisoned for saying something obvious to everyone at the time. The sun came up in the east, and set in the west because the sun was at the center of our solar system. Everyone knew this, but Galileo presented the information in such a compelling way that people could not cover their eyes and plug their ears to this information.

Very few people defended Galileo , and he was imprisoned so as to deny reality. Today we live in such an insufferable time, where speaking the truth is the highest of all crimes. Smart people like you are not safe. Safe spaces are made to protect fragile people from the truth. Safe spaces are dangerous to you. love papa.

But the truth will be revealed anyway. They cannot stop it.

Trial and second judgment, 1633

Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition by Cristiano Banti (1857)

With the loss of many of his defenders in Rome because of Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in 1633 Galileo was ordered to stand trial on suspicion of heresy “for holding as true the false doctrine taught by some that the sun is the center of the world” against the 1616 condemnation, since “it was decided at the Holy Congregation […] on 25 Feb 1616 that […] the Holy Office would give you an injunction to abandon this doctrine, not to teach it to others, not to defend it, and not to treat of it; and that if you did not acquiesce in this injunction, you should be imprisoned”.^[51]

Galileo was interrogated while threatened with physical torture.^[46] A panel of theologians, consisting of Melchior Inchofer, Agostino Oreggi and Zaccaria Pasqualigo, reported on the Dialogue. Their opinions were strongly argued in favour of the view that the Dialogue taught the Copernican theory.^[52]

Galileo was found guilty, and the sentence of the Inquisition, issued on 22 June 1633,^[53] was in three essential parts:

Galileo was found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the center of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. He was required to “abjure, curse, and detest” those opinions.^[54]
He was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition.^[55] On the following day this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life.
His offending Dialogue was banned; and in an action not announced at the trial, publication of any of his works was forbidden, including any he might write in the future.^[56]

According to popular legend, after his abjuration Galileo allegedly muttered the rebellious phrase “and yet it moves” (Eppur si muove), but there is no evidence that he actually said this or anything similar. The first account of the legend dates to a century after his death.^[57] The phrase “Eppur si muove” does appear, however, in a painting of the 1640s by the Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo or an artist of his school. The painting depicts an imprisoned Galileo apparently pointing to a copy of the phrase written on the wall of his dungeon.^[58]View of the Arcetri area in the hills above Florence, where Galileo spent his life from 1634 onwards under house arrest.

After a period with the friendly Archbishop Piccolomini in Siena, Galileo was allowed to return to his villa at Arcetri near Florence, where he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.^[59] He continued his work on mechanics, and in 1638 he published a scientific book in Holland. His standing would remain questioned at every turn. In March 1641, Vincentio Reinieri, a follower and pupil of Galileo, wrote him at Arcetri that an Inquisitor had recently compelled the author of a book printed at Florence to change the words “most distinguished Galileo” to “Galileo, man of noted name”.^[60]

However, partially in tribute to Galileo, at Arcetri the first academy devoted to the new experimental science, the Accademia del Cimento, was formed, which is where Francesco Redi performed controlled experiments, and many other important advancements were made which would eventually help usher in The Age of Enlightenment.