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Religion and Science Face to face: Galileo Galilei

The famous story of the confrontation of the church and science.

galileo galilei telescope church and galileo

As everyone knows, Galileo did not start his education with the desire to be an astronomer. In fact, it is so interesting that he started his education in a local monastery. He then continued his education to become a doctor. It is somewhat ironic that Galileo, who will face the church for his ideas throughout his life, started his education in the monastery. But Galileo wouldn't want to be a doctor either. Biology would not interest him. For this reason, he took a decision and left the school without a diploma, even though he studied for 4 years.

Philosophy; It has been a real food source for those who know how to feed with it.
galileo galilei

At this time, an Earth-centered theory was accepted as the universe model. Based on the views of Aristotle and Ptolemy, this model put the Earth at the center of the universe. In Galileo, he would come up with a completely opposite idea, but it would not be easy. For this idea to emerge, a device that would make distant objects appear as if they were near would have to be invented in the Netherlands in 1609. Yes, this device is the telescope itself. Or are you one of those people who think that Galileo invented the telescope? When Galileo learned about this device, he wanted to make one for himself. And with the first telescopes he made, he was able to magnify objects up to 8 times. In 1610, 10 times...


With these developments, Galileo has stepped into another world. He turned his eyes to the sky and discovered mountains on the Moon, 4 moons of Jupiter and many stars in the Milky Way between 1609 and 1610. He also observed Saturn's famous ring, but was unaware of it.

There are those who are satisfied by preferring the applause of the masses to the discretion of the few in the know.

With all these positive developments, the telescope would get Galileo in trouble. Because the church of the time supported the traditional world view of Aristotle and Ptolemy, while Galileo had an opposite view. Although everything was obvious, the evidence he put forward was ignored and Galileo was frustrated. However, he never gave up. And a conflict began between religion and science. So why did the church have such an uneasy and harsh attitude? The answer was quite simple. Because this idea that Galileo advocated was in conflict with religion and caused the holy book to be questioned. This would shake the authority of the church at that time and lower its trust.


In 1616, the Roman Catholic Inquisition accused Galileo of heresy and launched an investigation. This investigation was concluded in a few days. It was decided that heliocentrism contradicted the holy book and therefore this view was heresy.

Science does nothing but progress.

After all these events, Galileo was summoned to Rome to stand trial in 1632. Galileo was tired and sick at the age of 70. Investigators tried to make Galileo surrender by threatening torture. For a long time, Galileo denied the accusations, but was eventually forced to admit it. It took more than 300 years for the Catholic Church to accept that Galileo was right all along. Galileo did not see this victory, but history writes those who are right. And it continues to inspire science even today. An unmanned spacecraft sent in 1989 to study Jupiter and its moons was named after him.


Recommendation: The source of the quotations in the article and Galileo's attempt to prove his idea, which he wrote in a conversational manner, in a way that everyone can understand. You can read the book "Dialogue About Two Great World Systems".

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