Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was a great
scientist--but
much more than that. Had he been content to stick to his
science--and
limited his writing to dull treatises for other specialists--he would
never
have incurred the condemnation of the Catholic Church. Galileo
had
a mission: he wanted to increase awareness of scientific thought and,
in
the process, rescue the Catholic Church from its ostrich-like refusal
to
see the cosmos as it really was.
Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564--the
same
year Shakespeare was born and Michelangelo died. In the 1570s,
Galileo
and his family moved to Florence. In 1581, he entered the
University
of Pisa, as student of medicine and philosophy. At Pisa, Galileo
undertook a study of the pendulum that would much later result in the
development
of the pendulum clock. In 1592, Galileo was appointed professor
of
mathematics at the University of Padua. In that position, Galileo
pursued interests in the motion of falling bodies, spherical geometry,
nautical engineering, and astronomy. During this period Galileo
also
came to accept the view of Copernicus, first developed in his treatise
on the Revolutions of the Celestrial Orbs, that the Earth,
rotating
once a day on its own axis, revolved around the Sun.
In 1609, shortly before resigning his
position
at the University of Padua, Galileo produced the world's first working
telescope based on a spyglass shown by a Dutch eyeglass maker.
Galileo
used his telescope for a series of remarkable astronomical discoveries,
including the Milky Way, the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus,
sunspots,
and numerous lunar features. Drawing from these discoveries,
Galileo
proposed new arguments for the Copernican system--and presented these
arguments
in a series of letters.
As is described in detail elsewhere
on this
website, Galileo's eagerness to express Copernican views would earn him
first, in 1616, an admonition from the Catholic Church and later, in
1633,
a conviction for violating an injunction--supposedly issued seventeen
years
earlier--against holding, teaching, or defending Copernican
views.
Placed under house-arrest, Galileo would, in 1638, be allowed to move
to
his home near Florence. Though by then totally blind, he
continued
to teach and write. He died at his villa in Arcetri, just north
of
Florence, in 1642.
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Cardinal Robert
Bellarmine (1542-1621)
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine stood, at
the time
of Galileo's first published writing on the subject of Copernicanism,
as
the Church's chief guardian against deviationists and its chief
defender
of orthodoxy.
Seventy-four-years-old and in
ill-health at
the time of Galileo's 1616 admonition, Bellarmine was still a major
force.
In fact, it is not inaccurate to describe him as more in charge of
events
in 1615-16 than the dense and anti-intellectual Pope Paul V.
Bellarmine had waged many battles on
behalf
of papal power. He sought to create a papal superstate guided by
the decisions of the Council of Trent. Bellarmine attacked
anti-Catholic
laws in England, angering English leaders--many of whom accused him of
responsibility for the infamous "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up
Parliament.
In 1600, he framed the decision that brought Giordano Bruno, convicted
heretic, to his death by fire at the stake.
Bellarmine's Scholastic inclinations
made him
naturally suspicious of Galileo's novel ideas about the universe.
After giving an audience to Galileo in 1615, Bellarmine asked Jesuit
astronomers
for their opinion about Galileo's interpretation of discoveries made
with
his recently invented telescope. Bellarmine's fear of scandal and
concern for preserving the intellectual status quo led him to conclude
that discussing Copernicanism "absolutely" rather than "hypothetically"
was "a very dangerous attitude." Bellarmine summoned Galileo to
appear
before him on February 25, 1616 and admonished him to abandon--and
cease
defending--Copernican views.
Prior to becoming the Church's chief
theologian,
Bellarmine grew up in a nobleman's family in Tuscany. He studied
at Collegio Romano, Rome's Jesuit college. He served as a priest,
taught theology, and worked as the spiritual director--and later as
rector--for
Collegio Romano.
Bellarmine took on few of the
splendid trappings
that usually accompanied life as a cardinal. He lived a prayerful
and ascetic lifestyle. Although noted for his candor and temper,
Bellarmine also could be easygoing and even childlike. One
historian
notes that he was famous for his "lighthearted punning."
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Pope Urban VIII
(formerly Cardinal
Maffeo Barberini)(1568-1644)
Maffeo Barberini was born into a
powerful family
of Florentine merchants. He graduated from Collegio Romano, then
earned a doctor of law degree from the University of Pisa.
Barberini
rose rapidly in the Church hierarchy. In 1606, he was appointed
cardinal
and, with the death of Pope Gregory XV in 1623, he was elected Pope,
taking
the name of Pope Urban VIII. As Pope, Urban VIII made it his goal to
reinvigorate
papal power.
In the early days of his reign,
Galileo had
reason to believe Maffeo Barberini's elevation to Pope might lead to a
loosening of the Church's opposition to Copernican thought. Pope
Urban VIII received Galileo for six long audiences. Although a
humanist
largely baffled by scientific principles, Urban VIII seemed genuinely
interested
in Galileo's ideas. Urban VIII assured Galileo that as long as he
remained Pope, the memory of Copernicus had nothing to fear.
Eventually, however, the Pope's pride
and suspicious
would produce the dramatic confrontation with Galileo that culminated
with
his arrest, trial, and conviction in 1633. The troubles developed
after Pope Urban VIII gave Galileo permission to write a book
discussing
the contending views of the universe: his Dialogue Concerning the
Two
Chief World Systems. Galileo's biggest mistake seems to
have been putting into the mouth of an ignorant, literal-minded
character
named Simplicio the Pope's own views, offered to Galileo in 1623,
concerning
God's omnipotence. Urban VIII had argued that an all-powerful God
could make the Sun and other heavenly bodies do as he
pleased--notwithstanding
the laws of physics. In his Dialogue, Galileo provided a
response
that must have made the Pope feel foolish: "Surely, God could
have
caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their
veins
full of quicksilver, with their flesh heavier than lead, and with thier
wings exceedingly small. He did not, and that ought to show
something.
It is only in order to shield your ignorance that you put the Lord at
every
turn to the refuge of a miracle."
Upset with what he saw as ridicule of
his argument
and convinced that the Dialogue was nothing but a thinly-veiled
brief for the Copernican model, the Pope swung the machinery of the
Church
into motion against Galileo. The Pope insisted upon a formal
sentence,
a tough examination of Galileo, public abjuration, and "formal prison."
In June 1633, the Pope got his wish.
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Benedetto Castelli
(1578-1643)
Benedetto Castelli, a monk of
Montecassino,
ranked as Galileo's favorite disciple. The two often exchanged
warm
letters on matters ranging from scientific topics to the quality of
wine
and cheese. One letter from Galileo to Castelli in 1613, offering
his views on matters theological and Copernican, became key evidence
leading
to his 1616 admonition. That same year, Castelli received an
appointment
as a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa.
Castelli had a first-rate mind.
He understood
Galileo's thought as few men of the time did, and wrote his own
treatise
on The Motion of Water. He served as chief consultant on
hydraulic
projects beginning in 1626 and, later, as "Father Mathematician of His
Holiness." In the latter capacity in 1633, Castelli tried to
explain
the meaning of Galileo's Dialogue to his Inquisitors.
Before Galileo arrived in Rome to
stand trial,
Castelli was sent to Brescia. He was allowed to return to Rome
only
after Galileo's departure.
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Giovanni Ciampoli
(1589-1643)
Galileo had a trusted friend in
Giovanni Ciampoli.
A brilliant Latinist, Ciampoli adored the older scientist: "It seems
impossible
to me that one should frequent you and not love you....To hear you is
to
be convinced of the truth, and whatever I can do, I will always be at
your
service."
During Galileo's troubles of 1615-16,
Ciampoli,
under the allegiance of the Duke of Tuscany, corresponded regularly his
hero, advising him of developments and intrigues within the Catholic
Church
hierarchy.
When Galileo reading the Dialogue
for
publication in 1630, Ciampoli concluded that the Pope's had only the
warmest
feelings for Galileo, writing from Rome to tell him: "You are awaited
here
more than any most beloved damsel." Of course, Galileo would soon
discover otherwise, in part due to Ciampoli's unfortunate assurance to
the Pope that Galileo faithfully followed all papal commands in the
book.
The Pope considered himself deceived by Ciampoli--previously thought an
excellent candidate for cardinal-- and exiled him to the village of
Montalto
della Marca, where he served as governor.
Ciampoli accepted his situation
gracefully.
In 1633, he wrote to Galileo: "Come to see me, my persecuted Socrates,
we shall take good care of your health here....As for myself, I have
found
my consolation in study, and I still hope to write something whereby I
will be remembered."
Ciampoli died in Iesi in 1643.
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Cardinal Francesco
Barberini
(1597-1679)
Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the
nephew of
Pope Urban VIII, was one of ten judges in Galileo's trial.
Barberini
led a faction of cardinals that sought lenient treatment for
Galileo.
He persuaded Commissary-General Firenzuola to visit Galileo in March,
1633
and discuss with him a compromise solution to the compromise.
Under
the arrangement preferred by Barberini, Galileo would admit that the Dialogue
went too far and violated papal instructions and, in return, the book
could
be distributed (with revisions) and Galileo spared imprisonment.
Galileo agreed to the deal, but a majority of the ten cardinals
rejected
Barberini's plan. Barberini was one of three judges who did not
sign
Galileo's sentence, which banned the Dialogue and ordered
Galileo's
imprisonment.
After Galileo's sentencing and
abjuration,
Barberini succeeded in altering a plan to send Galileo to a monastery
for
a period of prolonged penitence, and arranged instead for him to be
transferred
to the custody of the Archbishop of Sienna.
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Tommaso
Caccini (1574-1648)
Father Tommaso Caccini, a Dominican
monk and
inveterate scandal-maker, was the chief instigator of Galileo's
troubles.
On December 20, 1614, Caccini preached a sermon in Florence that
condemned
mathematics and alleged that Copernicanism was either heretical or very
close to it. Caccini, a "turbulent ignoramus," contended that
Copernicus'
Sun-centered system contradicted Scripture's description of an
Earth-centered
system.
In March of 1615, Caccini traveled to
Rome
and denounced Galileo before the Holy Office. In his deposition,
Caccini claimed that Florence was full of "Galileists" who denied
miracles,
claimed God was an accident, and espoused Copernican views.
Caccini's
move was part of a plot calculated to force Rome to act against
Galileo.
Galileo accuratedly sized up his
enemy, describing
Caccini as a person "of very great ignorance, no less a mind full of
venom
and devoid of charity." Caccini's own brother shared this
appraisal,
calling his sibling "a dreadful fool" whose "ugly drives" and
"performance...makes
no sense in heaven or earth."
After playing his role in gaining
Galileo's
admonition in 1616, Caccini managed to earn the enmity of powerful
Cardinal
Borghese and was forced to leave Rome. He spent his later years
as
Prior of San Marco in Florence.
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Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473-1543)
Nicolaus Copernicus is credited with
first
proposing an alternative to the reigning Ptolemic explanation of the
universe.
Rather than a system in which the Sun and stars revolved around
the
Earth once a day, as Ptolemy proposed, Copernicus suggested a
Sun-centered
system in which the Earth, rotating on its own axis every twenty-four
hours,
revolved around the Sun once a year. Copernicus published his
views
in a 1543 treatise, the Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs.
Copernicus
dedicated the book to Pope Paul III. The book did not offend
Catholic
censors (at least until 1616, when it was placed on the Index of banned
books), in large part owing to a preface which (without much
conviction)
denied any pretension of the physical validity of the model
discussed.
Initially, the book met mostly with skepticism. Later, of course,
the Copernican system would be championed by others, including the
German
mathematician Johannes Kepler and, most famously, Galileo in many
letters
and in the book that led to his trial, Dialogue Concerning the Two
Chief
World Systems.
Copernicus was born into a Polish
middle-class
family. He studied at the Universities in Krakow, Bologna, Padua,
and Ferrara, developing strong backgrounds in mathematics, medicine,
and
canon law. Copernicus spent most of his life leading a sheltered
academic life as a canon in the cathedral of Frauenburg.
Goethe wrote of Copernicus' great
insight:
"Of all human discoveries and opinions,
none
may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine
of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and
complete
when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center
of the universe. Never, perhaps, was a greater demand placed on
mankind--for
by this admission, so many things vanished in mist and smoke!'
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