Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

Geocentrism is a theory in astrology that states the Earth was in the center of the universe and that other objects go around it. It was thought up by the Greek philosopher, Anaximander in the 6th century BCE. He proposed that the Earth was shaped like a cylinder and and was the center of everything. The Sun, the Moon, and planets were holes in invisible wheels surrounding Earth in which people can see concealed fire. In the 5th century BCE. Plato and Aristotle worked on the geocentric model. Plato stated that the Earth was a stationary sphere at the center of the universe. The Moon, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and fixed stars were carried on spheres and circles in that order (outwards from the center). Two observations made the geocentric theory seem true. First, if the Earth did move, then the shifting of stars would be visible due to parallax. However since the stars are so far away that this would be undetectable until the 19th century. The other observation is that Venus had about the same brightness most of the time. In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy made his own theory on the geocentric model. it stated that each planet moved in a circle called an epicycle which moves along a larger circle called a deferent. Ptolemy's system held sway until the late 16th century and it gradually got replaced by heliocentrism.

Heliocentrism is a theory that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. A sage named Yajnavalkya in ancient India who lived somewhere between the 9th and 8th century BCE believed that the Sun was the center of the lokas which is the plane of existence in Hinduism. He realized that the Sun was larger than Earth and stated that the Sun wasn't really moving. In the 3rd century BCE, a Greek astronomer named Aristarchus measured the distance of the Moon and Sun from Earth and estimated that the Sun was 6 to 7 times larger than Earth. He thought it made more sense if the Earth went around the Sun. He believed the reason for no parallax being detected was that the stars were very far away. In the 16th century CE, Copernicus fully explained the heliocentric model in full geometric detail. In the 17th century, Kepler stated that the planets revolved around the Sun in an ellipse and not in a circle as previously believed. In modern science the heliocentric theory is somewhat false due to the fact that the Sun is not the center of the universe but it is proven that the Earth is not the center of the universe either.

In 1633, Galileo Galilei was put on trial by the Roman Catholic for defending the teachings of Copernicus which state that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This teaching went against Scripture which states that the Earth should never move. In 1609, Galileo confirmed that Copernicus was right by discovering the telescope. With it, Galileo was able to look at the milky Way, the Moon's surface, and Jupiter's four moons. When Galileo published Letters on the Solar Spots in 1613 which drew a lot of criticism from those who believed that he violated Scripture. In his defense, Galileo said that the Bible should not always be taken literally. In February of 1632, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was published. When the Pope saw that his opinions were included in the book, he became angry because he thought Galileo made him look like a fool. In October of 1932, the Roman Inquisition summoned Galileo for violating the 1616 injunction that banned the teaching, holding, or writing about the Copernican theory. On June 1633, Galileo was forced to recant his belief in heliocentrism and was sentenced to imprisonment and later to lifelong house arrest.