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Until then, the available evidence suggested that the stars were fixed in their positions relative to the earth, and, thus, that the earth and the stars were not moving in space-only the sun, moon, and planets were. It would require more sensitive measuring equipment than was available in Galileo’s day to document the existence of these shifts, given the stars’ great distance. However, given the technology of Galileo’s time, no such shifts in their positions could be observed. He could not answer the strongest argument against it, which had been made nearly two thousand years earlier by Aristotle: If heliocentrism were true, then there would be observable parallax shifts in the stars’ positions as the earth moved in its orbit around the sun. Many people wrongly believe Galileo proved heliocentrism. Copernicus refrained from publishing his heliocentric theory for some time, not out of fear of censure from the Church but out of fear of ridicule from his colleagues. It was the received view among scientists at the time.Ĭenturies earlier, Aristotle had refuted heliocentrism, and by Galileo’s time, nearly every major thinker subscribed to a geocentric view. Clinging to Tradition?Īnti-Catholics often cite the Galileo case as an example of the Church refusing to abandon outdated or incorrect teaching, and clinging to a “tradition.” They fail to realize that the judges who presided over Galileo’s case were not the only people who held to a geocentric view of the universe. As a result, Kepler also found opposition among his fellow Protestants for his heliocentric views and found a welcome reception among some Jesuits who were known for their scientific achievements. Ten years prior to Galileo, Johannes Kepler published a heliocentric work that expanded on Copernicus’s work. Copernicus entrusted a preface to Andreas Osiander, a Lutheran clergyman who knew that Protestant reaction to it would be negative, since Martin Luther seemed to have condemned the new theory. Nicolaus Copernicus dedicated his most famous work, On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, in which he gave an excellent account of heliocentrism, to Pope Paul III. Many of the scientific advances during this period were made either by clerics or as a result of Church funding.
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In addition, many notable scientists received encouragement and funding from the Church and from individual Church officials.
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During Galileo’s time, the Jesuits had a highly respected group of astronomers and scientists in Rome. It has supported scientific endeavors for centuries.