What Galileo Said Under His Breath

Who was that early scientist - was it Giordano Bruno - who was tortured to death for heresy when he said that the earth went around the sun? Galileo, a contemporary of Giordano Bruno, advocated and taught the same view and was brought by the ruling committee to a prison. He was shown the actual torture chamber, where these same people took Giordano Bruno's life, and the chains that held him.
They showed Galileo very pointedly the various objects of torture and demanded that he reverse his view or die. Galileo stood in the torture chamber and recanted. He officially stated that the earth did not go around the sun. As he turned to depart from the torture chamber, under his breath he said, "but still it does."
We now know that the earth goes around the sun and not the other way but beings still persist in behaving like they are the center of the universe. Let's not let Bruno to have died in vain. ~ Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~~

Comments

  1. David OrbanJune 20, 2009 at 12:40 PM

    You probably refer to Giordano Bruno, rather than Copernicus.

    Copernicus died in 1543, and he delayed the publication of his main work on heliocentrism because he realized that it would be dangerous for him.

    Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 as a heretic.

    Galileo was forced to deny his views in 1615, and tried again for them in 1635, and lived in house arrest until his death in 1642

    ReplyDelete
  2. foopJune 22, 2009 at 12:44 AM

    I believe the Italian translation was "communque, so move" (she moves anyway). I love this story. Thank you for sharing it.

    ReplyDelete

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