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N0KFQ > TODAY 13.02.16 15:55l 58 Lines 2682 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 13
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1633
Galileo in Rome for Inquisition
On this day in 1633, Italian philosopher, astronomer and
mathematician Galileo Galilei arrives in Rometo face charges of
heresy for advocating Copernican theory, which holds that the
Earth revolves around the Sun. Galileo officially faced the Roman
Inquisition in April of that same year and agreed to plead guilty
in exchange for a lighter sentence. Put under house arrest
indefinitely by Pope Urban VIII, Galileo spent the rest of his
days at his villa in Arcetri, near Florence, before dying on
January 8, 1642.
Galileo, the son of a musician, was born February 15, 1564, in
Pisa, Italy. He entered the University of Pisa planning to study
medicine, but shifted his focus to philosophy and mathematics. In
1589, he became a professor at Pisa for several years, during
which time he demonstrated that the speed of a falling object is
not proportional to its weight, as Aristotle had believed.
According to some reports, Galileo conducted his research by
dropping objects of different weights from the Leaning Tower of
Pisa. From 1592 to 1630, Galileo was a math professor at the
University of Padua, where he developed a telescope that enabled
him to observe lunar mountains and craters, the four largest
satellites of Jupiter and the phases of Jupiter. He also
discovered that the Milky Way was made up of stars. Following the
publication of his research in 1610, Galileo gained acclaim and
was appointed court mathematician at Florence.
Galileo's research led him to become an advocate of the work of
the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1573). However,
the Copernican theory of a sun-centered solar system conflicted
with the teachings of the powerful Roman Catholic Church, which
essentially ruled Italy at the time. Church teachings contended
that Earth, not the sun, was at the center of the universe. In
1633, Galileo was brought before the Roman Inquisition, a
judicial system established by the papacy in 1542 to regulate
church doctrine. This included the banning of books that
conflicted with church teachings. The Roman Inquisition had its
roots in the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, the purpose of which
was to seek out and prosecute heretics, considered enemies of the
state.
Today, Galileo is recognized for making important contributions
to the study of motion and astronomy. His work influenced later
scientists such as the English mathematician and physicist Sir
Isaac Newton, who developed the law of universal gravitation. In
1992, the Vatican formally acknowledged its mistake in condemning
Galileo.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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