Galileo

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the observations and discoveries of physicist and astronomer, Galilei Galileo. The paper also compares his observations to those of other famous atronomers such as Johannes Keplar, Ptolemy and Copernicus.

From the Paper:

"Interestingly, the sort of heresy that Galileo was convicted of was just the sort of observational assertion that Luther had already predicted the Catholic Church would have trouble with, based upon the fact that they held rationalistic interpretations of the Bible in greater esteem than empirical conclusions arrived at through careful examination. In other words, the Church, by hoarding all of the power to make reforms and philosophical claims about the world, had made itself vulnerable to catastrophic failure once competing worldviews were introduced. Essentially, so much had been built upon the rationalistic claims asserted by the Catholic Church for more than one thousand years, that empirical knowledge was likely to soon begin to contradict dogma. Of course, this did occur quite publicly when Galileo argued in favor of the Copernican, heliocentric model of the solar system. Yet, it would seem, the rationalistic way of perceiving the universe was far more flexible than Luther had initially suspected. Galileo, on the other hand, grasped the philosophical wiggle-room rationalism affords anyone who is willing to accept claims about the world based upon faith."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Galilei, Galileo. "Dialog Concerning the Two Chief World Systems." WebTexts, 2007. Available: http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-Galileo.html.
• University of Sydney, Australia. "Origins of Modernity: Astronomy and Cosmology." The University of Sydney, 2007. Available: http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/modernity/copernicus.html.
• Wikipedia. "Amalgest." A Wikipedia Project, 2007. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almagest.
• Wikpedia. "Galileo Galilei." A Wikipedia Project, 2007. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo#Technology.

More papers on Galileo:

• Essay # 50493 : "Galileo's Astronomical Observations"
• Essay # 84847 : "More and Galileo "
• Term Paper # 3089 : "Galileo's conflict: Science and Religion"
• Essay # 72484 : "Galileo"

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