All tagged galileo
Here’s a story often told: Sometime in the 17th century, Galileo taught that the Earth revolved around the Sun, which is obviously true. Refusing to believe him because it made them feel cosmically insignificant, the Church authorities tried to silence him. They even refused to look through his telescope when he offered it to them to see for themselves. Ultimately, they banned his books and sentenced him to imprisonment.
Obviously, the Earth revolves around the Sun. This is obvious now in part because we—maybe not me or you, but someone—can go to space, and see it happening. The trouble is that is was not at all obvious in 1543. Nicolaus Copernicus died in 1543: he lived just long enough to see the publication of his magnum opus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. It is said that he held a copy of it on his death bed.
