Galileo Galilei

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A painting of Galileo Galilei

Statue of Galileo Galilei. This statue is outside the Ufizi in Florence, Italy

Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564 – January 8, 1642) was an Italian astronomer, (a person who studies outer space) and a famous thinker.

He made telescopes so he could look at stars and other planets. He also discovered four of Jupiter's moons.

Galileo also figured out many of the rules of how things move. These rules are called physics.

Since Galileo said that the sun was the center of the galaxy, not the earth, the Catholic Church arrested him, and threatened to kill him. He said that he changed his mind, but only to avoid dying. The Church forced him to spend the rest of his life trapped in his house, just in case.

Galileo also tried to determine the speed of light. What he did was:

He climbed one hill and had an assistant to climb another hill; both had lanterns with shutters, initially closed.

He then opened the shutter of his lantern. His assistant was instructed to open his own shutter upon seeing Galileo's lantern. Galileo then measured the time interval for his assistant's shutter to open.

Knowing the time interval and the separation between the hills, he determined the apparent speed of light.

[edit] Towards a re-examination of the trial of Galileo…

In 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Church for biblical and scientific reasons. Subsequently, science gradually proved that Galileo’s theory was correct.

Joel Col reconsiders the ultimate phase of the trial of the astronomer: the contradiction of his new thesis with regard to the biblical verses sustained by the Church.

In his work “Entre Galilée et l’Église : la Bible” (Between Galileo and the Church, the Bible...) the author analyzes the conflicting verses. He shows, through a comprehensive semantic study, that in the Hebrew and Greek Texts, the sun does not turn around the Earth, contrary to what the versions assert. He concludes that if the translations of the Bible had been faithful to the original Texts, Galileo would not have been condemned for “having held and believed a doctrine which is false and contrary to the divine and Holy Scripture.”

As a result of his study, he clarifies the many debates held through the centuries and endeavours to align the translations of the Bible with their original Texts and to officially rehabilitate Galileo.