The Trial of Galileo

9 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2007

See all articles by Douglas Linder

Douglas Linder

University of Missouri at Kansas City - School of Law

Date Written: 2002

Abstract

Galileo Galilei was born in 1564 - the same year that Shakespeare was born and Michelangelo died. From an early age, Galileo showed his scientific skills. At age nineteen, he discovered the isochronism of the pendulum. By age twenty-two, he had invented the hydrostatic balance. By age twenty-five, Galileo assumed his first lectureship, at the University of Pisa. Within a few more years, Galileo earned a reputation throughout Europe as a scientist and superb lecturer. Eventually, he would be recognized as the father of experimental physics. Galileo's motto might have been follow knowledge wherever it leads us. In the 1633 trial of Galileo Galilei, two worlds come into cosmic conflict. Galileo's world of science and humanism collides with the world of Scholasticism and absolutism that held power in the Catholic Church. The result is a tragedy that marks both the end of Galileo's liberty and the end of the Italian Renaissance.

Keywords: Famous Trials, Trial, Galileo, Science, Physics, Astronomy, Catholic Church, Church, Copernicus, Sun, Earth, Center of the Universe, Telescope, Inquisition

JEL Classification: K10, K40, K41, K42

Suggested Citation

Linder, Douglas, The Trial of Galileo (2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1021251 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1021251

Douglas Linder (Contact Author)

University of Missouri at Kansas City - School of Law ( email )

5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
United States

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