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- Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
- Path: sparky!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!cs.ucf.edu!schnitzi
- From: schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius)
- Subject: Re: Where has Galileo been all these years?
- Message-ID: <schnitzi.722009452@eola.cs.ucf.edu>
- Sender: news@cs.ucf.edu (News system)
- Organization: University of Central Florida
- References: <1992Nov16.202537.3955@draco.macsch.com> <16NOV199222544623@violet.ccit.arizona.edu>
- Distribution: world,local
- Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 14:10:52 GMT
- Lines: 23
-
- >>In Galileo's day, almost every government required a permit to
- >>print a book, and the Papal States (central Italy, ruled directly by
- >>the Pope as temporal sovereign) were no exception. When Galileo
- >>finished his book, A DIALOGUE CONCERNING THE TWO GREAT WORLD SYSTEMS
- >>(meaning the earth-centered system of Ptolemy and the sun-centered
- >>system of Copernicus) he applied directly to Pope Urban VIII, with
- >>whom he was personally acquainted, for the necessary permit. The
- >>Pope granted the permission, on condition that the book give a
- >>balanced presentation, and in particular that it contain his own
- >>favorite argument against Copernicus, one that he had invented
- >>himself and was particularly proud of. Galileo agreed and got the
- >>permit. When the book came out, the Pope was chagrined to find that
- >>his argument was indeed presented, but not as he had expected. The
- >>book was written in the form of a conversation among friends, and
- >>the Pope's argument had been put into the mouth of a character
- >>called Simplicio (=the idiot). Moreover, the other speakers then
- >>covered the argument with ridicule.
-
- What was the Pope's argument against Copernicus?
-
- Mark Schnitzius
- schnitzi@eola.cs.ucf.edu
- University of Central Florida
-
