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<TITLE>Galileo -- Reading Revolutions -- Intellectual History</TITLE>
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    <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1"><b><a href="lectures.html">INDEX</a></b><br><br><font size="+1"><center><i>Reading Revolutions:  Intellectual History</i><br><br>
	What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate: Galileo and
the Church<br><br><font size="+0">Christopher Magri</font></center>

&nbsp;<p><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
The following is a summary of a lecture given by Chris Magri based on his slides.</font></p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S1.jpg" title="Galileo" width="450" height="337"></p>
	<font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	<p>As the story goes, Copernicus proposed a heliocentric solar system in <i>
	De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium</i>&nbsp; which was published after his 
	death.&nbsp; The Church is outraged and threatened by the new science.&nbsp; 
	Galileo is persecuted for defending the Copernican model, defiantly 
	publishes <i>Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems</i> and ends his life 
	under house arrest.&nbsp; The history is more complicated and much more 
	ambiguous.</p>
	<p>In the 1500's the understanding of the heavens were based on the writings 
	of Aristotle and the model created by Ptolemy in the second century.&nbsp; 
	Using observations of gravity and motion, the Aristotelian model proposes a 
	geocentric universe.&nbsp; </p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/DSC00090.jpg" width="450" height="338"></p>
	<p align="left">The model fits most observations.&nbsp; Without modern 
	measurement it is difficult to prove otherwise.&nbsp; It also fits nicely 
	with personal egocentrism and the theology of the Church.&nbsp; There are 
	anomalies.&nbsp; </p>
	
	<p align="center"><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
     <img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S3.jpg" width="450" height="340"></p>
	
	<p>The predictable but rather arbitrary motion of the planet Mars is 
	illustrated by a chart created by Chris Magri.&nbsp; Of course, it is only 
	arbitrary if you assume Mars is revolving around the earth.</p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S4.jpg" title="Galileo" width="450" height="339"></p>
	</font>
	<p>Ptolemy explained the phenomenon of retrograde motion by proposing 
	epicycles.</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S5.jpg" width="450" height="340"></p>
	
	<p>In addition, the earth would be off-center in relation to the path to 
	account for changes in distance.</p>
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				<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/PTOLEMY2.jpg" width="450" height="353"></td>
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	<p>Over time, the epicycle would be displaced.</p>
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				<font size="-1" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">
				<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/PTOLEMY3.jpg" title="Ptolemy's System"width="450" height="356"></font></p>
				<p align="center"><font size="-2"><i>Anonymous author.&nbsp; See 
				model in motion at:</i></font><font size="-2"><br>
				<a target="_blank" href="http://webpages.charter.net/middents/Ptolemy's%20Model.htm">
				http://webpages.charter.net/middents/Ptolemy's Model.htm</a></font></td>
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		</table>
	</div>
	
	<p>When you add in the other four planets, you have what appear to be 
	spinning rings on orbits.&nbsp; You can see the effect in this computer 
	model from Paul Stoddard.&nbsp; Click on the link below, choose months, and 
	change the speed on the slider in the upper right hand corner to observe 
	both what we see from earth and what the motion would look like if seen from 
	above.</p>
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				<font size="+1" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">
				<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/PTOLEMYM.jpg" width="500" height="542"></font><i><font size="-2"> 
				<br>By permission of Paul Stoddard:&nbsp; See model in motion at<br>
				</font></i><font size="-2">
				<a class="fixed" target="_blank" href="https://mail1.maine.edu/horde-3.0.4/services/go.php?url=http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/stoddard/JAVA/ptolemy.html">
				http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/stoddard/JAVA/ptolemy.html </a>
				</font></td>
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	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S6.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>When Copernicus proposed that the sun is central he did not simplify the 
	mathematics.&nbsp; The model still requires epicycles.</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S7.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>Notice that the orbits are perfect circles.&nbsp; Copernicus felt that 
	this was consistent with the ideal of harmony in the universe but it made 
	his model difficult to describe.</p>
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				<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/COPERNIC.jpg" width="500" height="570"><i><font size="-2"> 
				<br>By permission of Paul Stoddard:&nbsp; See model in motion at
				</font></i><br>
				<font size="-2">
				<a class="fixed" target="_blank" href="https://mail1.maine.edu/horde-3.0.4/services/go.php?url=http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/stoddard/JAVA/ptolemy.html">
				http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/stoddard/JAVA/ptolemy.html </a>
				</font></td>
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	<p>&nbsp;</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S8.jpg" width="450" height="342"></p>
    <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	<p>For the Church, the main purpose of astronomy was to predict the position 
	of the planets and thus set the time for the moveable feast days.&nbsp; 
	Thus, the forward suggests that the Copernican model may be a convenient 
	fiction, acceptable if it works.&nbsp; (Take a look at the
	<a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computus">calculations 
	for Easter</a>).</p></font>
	<p><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	Copernicus did not make many observations of his own, instead he relied on 
	the observations of the ancients and his interpretation of Plato.&nbsp; 
	Tycho Brahe, on the other hand, spent his life making extensive and exacting 
	observations of planetary, solar, and stellar positions.</font></p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S9.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	<p align="left"><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	Brahe, concluded that the earth doesn't move because if it did, if you 
	measured the stars when the earth was on one side of the sun and contrasted 
	those measurements to measurements made when the earth moved to the other 
	side of the sun, closer stars would change their position relative to 
	farther stars.&nbsp; This is called stellar parallax.&nbsp;


</font></p>
	<p align="left"><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	It is similar to binocular parallax.&nbsp; Hold your finger out in front of 
	you, close one eye and then the other and look at your finger.&nbsp; The 
	finger moves in relation to the objects behind it because your eyes are 
	inches apart.&nbsp; Brahe was unable to find any evidence that parallax 
	occurred in any of his extensive records.&nbsp; While the distance between 
	the positions of the earth are great, the stars are so far away that the 
	parallax effect is extremely small.&nbsp; Measurements of stellar parallax 
	were not successfully made until 1838 by Friedrich Bessel.</font></p>
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				<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/BRAHEM3.jpg" width="500" height="477"><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"><i><font size="-2"> 
				<br>
				By permission of Paul Stoddard:&nbsp; See model in motion at
				</font></i><br>
				<font size="-2">
				<a class="fixed" target="_blank" href="https://mail1.maine.edu/horde-3.0.4/services/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fjove.geol.niu.edu%2Ffaculty%2Fstoddard%2FJAVA%2Fptolemy.html">
				http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/stoddard/JAVA/ptolemy.html</a>
				</font></td>
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	<p>Galileo ignored Brahe's model and chose to support Copernicus.</p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S10.jpg" width="450" height="340"></p>
	</font>
	<p><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">Galileo 
	was not the only scientist in the 1600's.&nbsp; There was a network of 
	individuals across Europe who both corresponded and shared publications.&nbsp; 
	Galileo was one of the first to use the telescope and in 1611 used one to 
	show sunspots to a 
	number of people in Rome.&nbsp; In October of 1611, a 
	Jesuit, Scheiner, began to make observations of sunspots and published his 
	findings in January 1612.&nbsp; He interpreted the sunspots as small 
	planetoids revolving around the sun.&nbsp;


</font></p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S11.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	</font>
	<p>After that, Galileo began a serious study of sunspots and carried out a series of 
	debates with Scheiner, a member of the Jesuit order, in published letters.&nbsp; Galileo challenged 
	Scheiner's interpretation and provided measurements and observations to 
	prove that the spots were blemishes on the sun and that they showed that the 
	sun rotates.&nbsp; Scheiner lost the debate and in subsequent publications 
	changed his interpretation to agree with Galileo.&nbsp; Years later, Galileo 
	complained that other scientists were trying to claim primacy in the 
	discovery of sunspots -- credit for which Galileo felt belonged to him.&nbsp; Scheiner assumed that Galileo was talking about him and was outraged.&nbsp; 
	Galileo had a new enemy.&nbsp; </p>
	<p>He was able to go on to alienate <i>all</i> of the Jesuits when he 
	scathingly called their intelligence and integrity into question over the 
	nature of comets.&nbsp; Jesuit observers had proposed that comets were 
	short-lived planetary objects in orbit while Galileo claimed they were 
	vapors in the earth's atmosphere.&nbsp; Galileo could not limit himself to 
	proof and observations but felt compelled to vilify anyone who disagreed 
	with him.</p>
	<p>Galileo's more reasoned style can be read in his letter to the 
	<a target="_blank" href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.html">Grand Duchess Cristina</a> 
	expressing his views on the relationship between science and Biblical 
	interpretation:</p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S12.jpg" width="450" height="337"></p>
	
	<p>Galileo posits that the denial of the Copernican theory has more to do 
	with Galileo's defense of Copernicus since the Copernican theory had been 
	read and discussed without problem for over 50 years.&nbsp; He calls on the 
	writings of St. Augustine to show that enquiry and reason can be brought to 
	bear on biblical issues and that literalism can be used in both directions.</p>
	<p>Magri goes on to give illustrations of places where it is absurd to take 
	the Bible literally, even without touching on scientific matters:</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S13.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>Opposition against Galileo and by extension, his theories, grows.&nbsp; 
	It is not limited to people within the Church but is found among academics 
	who have been insulted, threatened, or refuted by Galileo in various 
	publications on a vast array of topics.&nbsp; Cardinal Bellarmine is sent to 
	warn Galileo not to promote the Copernican model but to treat it as an 
	hypothesis.&nbsp; Caution is the word.</p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S14.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>Pope Urban VIII suggests that Galileo consider that God might have made 
	the world one way but allowed us to see it in another way.&nbsp; Galileo 
	gets permission to publish a work about Copernican theory as long as it is 
	clearly treated as unproven.</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S15.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>The use of a conversation to explore different sides to an issue allows Galileo 
	to seem even-handed. The personalities and arguments he assigns his 
	characters are anything but unbiased, in fact, they strengthen the insults 
	directed at Aristotelian and Ptolemaic astronomy.&nbsp; He is even able to 
	include a passing insult directed toward Scheiner.&nbsp; </p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S16.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	<p><br></font>To answer
    <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">Cardinal Bellarmine's demand 
	for evidence, Galileo has Salviati argue in the Dialogue that the 
	presence of ocean tides 
	proves that the earth moves.&nbsp;


	</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/dialogue36.jpg" width="450" height="396"></p>
	
	<p>Pope Urban VIII is not amused and probably feels betrayed.&nbsp; He turns from supporter to judge.&nbsp; He orders that the 
	Inquisition investigate.&nbsp; Where he had admired and sought to counsel 
	Galileo on handling his enemies, now he joined them in seeing Galileo as 
	totally out of control and a threat.</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S18B.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>The Catholic church continued to produce great scientists and removed 
	itself from the controversies over stellar configurations.&nbsp; It was even 
	able to absorb Darwin's evolution.&nbsp; The same cannot be said of all.&nbsp; 
	Some still fear that knowledge may undermine belief.&nbsp;&nbsp;


	</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S19.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>Now they want belief to be disguised as science rather than science 
	subsumed under belief.&nbsp; It leads to:</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S20.jpg" width="450" height="338"></p>
	</font><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	<p>and also to:</p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/galileo57.jpg" width="450" height="338"></p>
	<p align="center">&nbsp;</p>
	<p align="center"><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S22.jpg" width="450" height="340"></font><br>


	</p>
	<p>Kepler published <i>Epitome Astronomiae</i> in 1621 in which he provided 
	extensive mathematical proofs of the Copernican heliocentric solar system as 
	modified by Kepler to include elliptical orbits.&nbsp; Kepler's work did not attract the same kind of hysterical opposition.&nbsp; Earlier, Kepler attempted to share his findings with Galileo, but Galileo 
	was on his own road.&nbsp;


	</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S23.jpg" width="450" height="337"></p>
	
	<p>Galileo's response to critics and to colleagues alike played an important 
	part in the polarization of emotion and politics.&nbsp; Had he been able to 
	restrain himself to his more reasoned arguments he may have been able to 
	maintain the support of those both in the Church and in academia who had 
	once defended and admired him.</p>
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S24.jpg" width="450" height="339"></p>
	
	<p>As Galileo ended his <i>Dialogue </i>with the words of Sagredo:</p>
	
	<p align="center">
	<img border="0" src="pictures/Galileo/S25.jpg" width="450" height="338"></p>
	
	<p>so we must end.</p>
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    <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">
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	<p><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">The 1710 Florence edition 
	of <i>Dialogo di Galileo Galilei linceo matematico supremo dello studio di 
	padova</i></font><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">.&nbsp; </font></font>
	</font>
    <font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1">Click either picture for an 
	enlargement.</p>
	<p>An English translation of the work can be found at
	<a target="_blank" href="http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-Galileo.html">
	http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-Galileo.html</a>.</p><hr width="60%"><hr width="40%">
	<p></font><br>


	</p>


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          <td width="100%"><blockquote><font face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica" size="-1"><br>Citation:<br><br>"What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate:&nbsp; Galileo and the Church."&nbsp; Summary of a lecture by Christopher Magri.&nbsp;  University of Maine at Farmington, September 14, 2005.&nbsp;  Retrieved _______. &nbsp;
&lt;http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Reading_Revolutions/Galileo.html&gt;.
<br><br>URL:  <a href="http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Reading_Revolutions/index.html">http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Reading_Revolutions/index.html</a>  <br><br>Marilyn Shea, 2005<br><br>

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