In 1616, The Pope denounced the Copernican theory, surprisingGalileo. During 1626, a group formed and plotted to ruin Galileo. They felt that faith wasmore important than the truth of the universe. The asked Galileo to renounce his belief inheliocentrism and his discoveries because the Bible spoke nothing of his discoveriestherefore they saw them false. Despite the evidence Galileo now had to prove the validityof the heliocentric theory, the Church ordered Galileo to speak of heliocentrism only as ahypothesis even though it was true. Galileo's third book, Dialogue on the Two GreatSystems of the World, was about the Church and science. The Pope banned it because itwas slanderous against the church. The Church now saw his book as heresy and orderedGalileo to appear before the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Now 68 years old and failingin health, Galileo publicly recanted and admitted his crimes in order to save his life. Hewas not able to escape the wrath of the Inquisition and was confined to his home for therest of his life. Seeing that the Inquisition gave harsher punishments than that, Galileowas glad to receive a light conviction. Galileo lived to be 78 years old, and died in 1642due to sickness causing his to be bedridden his last three years. Through Galileo'sexperiments and discoveries he was able to confirm Copernicus theories, furtherdeveloped observational astronomy, and with Kepler, prepared the groundwork for IsaacNewton's discovery of the Law of Universal Gravitation. (Adamczewski, p.158) Heliocentrism was proven true by the discoveries of Galileo, Kepler, and Newton;through their efforts to prove the validity of the heliocentric theory people began to findtruth in science through experimentation rather than religion with no proof. Manyscientists went through great ordeals for their scientific beliefs, thus making theheliocentric theory the most electrifying idea in human history. ...
