Free Response Question 1 ( final draft)

Why are the trials and tribulations of Galileo often considered both predicative of the future of Western Civilization as well as a perfect encapsulation of the context of his own time?

Galileo Galilei was an extremely famous Italian scientist who was born in 1564 and died in 1642. This talented man was gifted in many ways which caused much debate during his life time. Galileo is considered by many to be the father of modern science. Because of this title, he had almost single handedly created the division between the Catholic Church and Science. With his help in the creation of modern science, Galileo faced many trials and tribulations in the form of the Catholic Church by sticking to his beliefs like the heliocentric system, but his advances were limited to what he could do with the instruments available to him, the small freedoms given to him by the catholic church, and his own ingenuity which showed what was to come for the future of Europe and the realities of his own time.

Galileo was a man of discovery. He went to a university but never actually finished before continuing on with another college. Galileo was an inventor of many devices that helped to create what is now modern science. He was known for creating the microscope, a compass used to measure polygons as well as the amount of gunpowder to use in certain size cannonballs, and the telescope. His invention of the telescope was maybe his most popular since it was one of the main instruments that caused his debate with the Catholic Church. He used it to view the moon and other celestial objects. One of which was Jupiter and its moons. He studied it for a while and observed that it had moons, which were not always in the same position the night before. Along with observing Jupiter, Galileo looked at the moon and saw that it was filled with craters and mountains. This went against the catholic belief that the moon was smooth. One of the beginning events that lead to a tribulation for Galileo was his belief in the Copernican system which stated that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around. This is also known as the Heliocentric system. Not only was Galileo an astronomer but a physicist and mathematician as well. In fact, one of the reasons he did not finish his first university was because he went to learn math instead. Galileo was interested in gravity and the laws of motion as well. However, even with all of his inventions they were not as advanced as they are today. Because of this limitation, he couldn’t go on to study more in depth of the solar system and other planets. He wrote many books during his time on math, physics, and many more important subjects. With all of his knowledge, Galileo may be the single most important person of his era. His discoveries and inventions started the world in the area of modern science in which it is still based off of his findings to this day.

Galileo faced the harsh realities of his own time due to the fact that he was interested in science. Many of his ideas went against the Catholic Church and their belief system. Due to this, he was forced under house arrest and later excommunicated for his beliefs in science. Many people think of Galileo as a leader of the disparities between the Catholic Church and science. There are two main subjects that went against the catholic belief that caused problems for Galileo. The first is that he used his telescope to prove that the moon was not smooth. This was a crushing blow to Catholics because it was in their religion that it was a smooth object. The second was the fact that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not vice versa. Both of these ideas forced the Catholics to protect their beliefs and they did this by refuting Galileo and forcing him to be under house arrest. As time went on, the Catholic Church took action and Galileo had to face several trials in which he was convicted of heresy. Even though Galileo was warned of what would happen if he continued to defend heliocentrisism, he stayed focused and did not let the worries of the Catholic Church get in his way. He was not given much room and freedom to continue his work to the best of his abilities knowing that his actions could cause his death. Galileo saw the stark reality of his own era in which the people were steadfast in their religion and unwilling to believe in something new. However, his ideas prevailed and even though he died, many of his ideas are still alive today and in much use.

Galileo was an extremely smart man. He created many devices to help with his experiments and to think in new ways. He was a pioneer of science which helped paved the way for the science of today. Galileo wrote several books that explained his ideas and expanded on what other scientists of his era were doing. Some of which showed people how to accurately weigh objects and what was actually up in space. Because of his ingenuity, he caught the eye of the Catholic Church and brought this mighty beast upon himself. He, along with the other scientists of his time, enabled the evidence of science to get out to the public and to open their eyes. However, they can only do so much and the rest is up to the people.

Galileo went through many trials and tribulations to get to where he was in his day. He was forced to refute religion and stand steadfast in his beliefs about science. Even with threats to his life, Galileo never hesitated in doing what he wanted. Galileo continued to experiment and write books to prove his point even though it was not consistent with Catholic belief. Without Galileo, modern science would never be where it is today and religion may be a more dominant force in people’s lives.