Free Response Question 1

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 essentially created the division between the Church and Science. With his creation of modern science, Galileo 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 help to create what is now modern science. He was one of the first people to create a telescope in which 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 mountainous. 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. 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. 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.

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 executed 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. 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 was killed, many of his ideas are still alive today and in much use.

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.