moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn, when the Church said everything was supposed to
revolve around the Earth. And Galileo even measured the mountains and valleys on the
Moon, showing that it was not the perfect sphere the Church claimed it to be.
Galileo not only made these discoveries, he also published them in widely popular books
that often made fun of the ignorance of his critics. Even though he tried to tiptoe around
the Church’s positions, everything Galileo did proved them wrong.
It was only a matter of time before Galileo was put on trial and sentenced as a heretic. He
spent the rest of his life under house arrest, and all of his books were banned.
A true scientist to the end, Galileo kept experimenting and writing in secret, even as an
old man. It was only long after his death, when there was so much proof that his findings
could no longer be ignored, that Galileo’s work was fully recognized. In 1992, the
Catholic Church apologized and admitted he had been right.
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