author of on the revolutions of the heavenly bodies

He wrote letters laying out his arguments to his student, Benedetto Castelli, in December of 1613 and to the Grand Duchess Dowager Christina in the spring of 1615. Galileo argued vociferously against the biblical claims refuting the Copernican model. They accused Galileo, who was an observant Catholic, of being a heretic who contradicted the veracity of the Holy Scriptures - an uncomfortable situation to find oneself, especially in Italy during the second decade of the 17th century. The clerics, backed by a gaggle of natural philosophers, insisted that our world was at the center of the universe, and that the sun, planets and even distant stars revolved around a stationary Earth. Here’s the rub: Copernicus’s theory and, eventually, Galileo’s telescopic proof ran counter to the teachings of the most important authority of his era, the Catholic Church.

In this 1543 book, Copernicus became the first explorer of the skies to posit a concept called heliocentrism, in which the Earth rotates on its own axis each day and, like all the planets in our solar system, revolves around the sun. They accused Galileo, an observant Catholic, of being a heretic who contradicted the veracity of the Holy Scriptures.įrom his copious reading, Galileo became a great admirer of the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, whose “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” is a landmark study in the history of astronomy.

Author of on the revolutions of the heavenly bodies