Unpopular, hosted by Eve Zythko, is a podcast about the people in history who weren’t afraid to face persecution in pursuit of the truth. In this episode, Eve explores the life and crimes of one of the most famously unpopular scientists, Galileo Galilei. “It's worth looking back at the heliocentrism controversy,” Eve said, “not so we can laugh at how ignorant the church was, but so we can consider how we react to information that opposes our deeply held beliefs and what it means to be the kind of person who's willing to question those beliefs...Galileo's story is a reminder that sometimes we have to make enemies in our pursuit of truth.”
Astronomer, mathematician, inventor, and rebel, Galileo is one of the most celebrated scientists in history due to his prolific contributions to the fields of astronomy and math, but also because of his historic battle with the Catholic Church over whether the Earth revolves around the sun. “Aristarchus of Samos was the first to suggest that Earth rotates on an axis and revolves around the sun in the BCE years,” Eve states. In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus agreed with that assessment in his writings, Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs, saying that the sun was the center of the universe. “But even though scientists knew Earth was not at the center of the universe, the Catholic church would have none of it when Galileo was vocal about heliocentrism in the 17th century.”
The struggle between Copernican theory - heliocentrism - and Aristotilian theory - that the earth is immovable - caused grief for many 17th century scientists, including Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake after a “heresy trial that was likely more related to his religious and philosophical beliefs than his astronomical ones,” and friar Paolo Antonio Foscarini’s book arguing that Copernican theory was compatible with the Bible was banned and condemned by the Church. So Galileo had to keep his interest in Copernican theory low-key. Surprisingly, the Church gave Galileo permission to write again about Copernican theory as long as he presented it as a hypothetical. One of the best examples of historical shade-throwing ensued when Galileo published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, presented as an argument between a Copernican scholar and one who ascribed to Plato and Aristotle’s theories. Galileo got in serious trouble by giving all the most sound arguments to the Copernican character, though he refused to admit to this, saying he just wanted to show off his debate skills.
Galileo didn’t have to undergo torture or execution, but did have his book banned and lived the rest of his days under house arrest. “The enduring fascination with the controversy surrounding his defense of heliocentrism,” Eve says, “shows how much we care about people who push the envelope to try to make society better and smarter...We don't need to trust everybody, but we can try not to burn rebels at the stake before we even give them a chance to speak.”
Learn all about Galileo’s struggles with the Church as well as other scientists, and how the consequences of these struggles echo through history, on this episode of Unpopular.
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