Why was Galileo brought before the inquisition in 1632?
1 Answer
Galilei proved, through his observations with the telescope but also other experiments, that the heliocentric theory was much more reasonable than the Ptolemaic model.
The problem is that the heliocentric has the Sun in the center and the Ptolemaic the Earth.
This was unacceptable for the religion that has ad concept the Man at the center of the universe.
The heliocentric model wasn't an idea of Galilei, it was Kepler that discover this theory, but Kepler published it much more as a mathematical idea than a real theory to describe the motion of planets.
Moreover, Galilei was a professor with a great reputation, so his word was respected and listened by many people.
There is also another aspect. Galilei somehow forced the situation.
He was professor in Padua, under the protection of the Doge (a sort of duke) of the Venice. In this role he had a complete freedom because Venice was very powerful and didn't have the influence of the Church. But Galilei wanted to promote his theories in Florence that he thought it was the center of the cultural life in Italy.
He presented his theory once and the Pope ask to the astronomer of the Church to analyze his theory and give a feedback. The astronomer said that the theory was beautiful, very clever, and mathematically correct. But the cardinals and the Pope said that the theory was against the Bible so, even if it was mathematically correct, it was wrong.
Galilei declared then to not talk again about this theory. After couple of years the Pope died and was substituted by a new Pope that was also a mathematician. Then Galilei decided to talk again about his theory sure that a mathematician is more open minded. There he discovered that the church was impossible to change (at least in such a short time) and he had a trial for heresy.
The options were to be tortured and die or to declare that the theories where wrong. He declared his theories wrong and went back to his studies.
