Galileo Research Paper

Galileo was a well-known astronomer who proved many ideas and original beliefs wrong. He was attacked by the church for opposing the original geocentric model stating that he had evidence to prove heliocentism. Galileo’s arguments were very precise and rational. The Church charged him as being a heretic simply because he was going against the church, even though they couldn’t prove his theory’s wrong. In his first letter he advocated the difference between theology and physical science. He stated that, “physical conclusions pertaining to the celestial motions deal with astronomical and geometrical demonstrations, founded primarily on sense experiences and very exact observations." (Lancas, Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of …show more content…
He wrote his letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615. At this time, religion was taken very seriously and if you were against the church you were considered an outsider. With Galileo’s strong evidence against the church and stating that the sun is the center of the universe; it brought the people of the state to also question to church’s theological theory. However, Galileo was a religious man and did not want to be believed that he was an unholy man. His ideas did not go against the idea of God but rather he fought against the church’s theories. In earlier ages, the church was mainly influence by the beliefs of Aristotle and Plato. Their strong beliefs that the earth was the center of the universe seemed to be correct and influenced the church. They believed that God created everything around the earth. This created the church’s theological opinion and this theory was unchallenged for many years. Galileo used strong scientific evidence to prove the church’s theory wrong. Galileo’s opinion had similarities with Newton’s theories as well. Newton believed that science should be used to learn about God. They both believed that science should be used to help teach mankind and to not go against religion. Newton wrote, “It is the perfection of God's works that they are all done with the greatest simplicity. And therefore to understand the frame of the world, we must understand his visions." (Lancas, Newton and Religion, Blogspot) Newton believed that religion and science work together to help mankind discover new things. Together, Newton and Galileo’s ideas were used to help understand the earth and the heavens, not to challenge

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