The Galileo Affair

George Sim Johnson have a very good and more indepth overview of the Galileo affair then you normally see even in apologetics circles (published in 2003). We seldom hear the fact that Galileo got more in trouble for his dipping into theology then for proposing heliocentricism. That he was condemned more by the scientists of the day than by the Church. Nor is it ever mentioned that proof of the theory was not seen till centuries after his death and yet he wanted to teach it as more than a hypothesis. There are also a couple interesting facts in the article of items that Galileo contended that turned out not to be true such as that planets orbit in perfect circles and that comets are exhalations of the atmosphere.

The article does not mention the fact that Galileo famous expression of eppure si muove (and yet it moves) has no historic reliability and was later added to the myth of the Galileo affair.

[via The Curt Jester]