How Galileo Fought the Catholic Church and Became the First Superstar Scientist
" " A portrait of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Italian physicist, philosopher, astronomer and mathematician, in an engraving by Spagnoli. DEA/ICAS94/Getty Images Today, Italian astronomer, physicist and author Galileo Galilei, who lived from 1564 to 1642, might be most famous for having been put on trial for heresy by the Roman Inquisition in 1633. That event has come to symbolize the conflict between adherence to religious dogma and the intellectual freedom required by science. Galileo's trouble with authorities actually stemmed not from his own work, but from his advocacy of Polish as...
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