There is a story that as Galileo stood in front of the Inquisition and listened as they declared that the Earth did not revolve around the Sun, he whispered under his breath “and yet, it moves”. This moment of defiance has been celebrated as Galileo’s true “martyr” moment. But, there is no way that Galileo ever said that. While the official records produced by the Inquisition might make it seem like the “Galileo Affair” had been about the question of the Earth’s motion, a closer look at the affair reveals that it was for more complicated (and personal) than that. Galileo did not valiantly defend his beliefs until he was threatened with torture. In fact, he argued to the end that he had been misunderstood and that he had never truly believed that the Earth circled the Sun. So why was Galileo “vehemently suspected of heresy”? Tune-in and find out how Pope poetry, cheeky character names, and the last great wrangle all play a role in the story.
Works Cited
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Galilei, Galileo, and Albert Van Helden. Sidereus Nuncius. Octavo, 2000.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46036/46036-h/46036-h.htm
Livio, Mario. “Did Galileo Truly Say, ‘And Yet It Moves’? A Modern Detective Story.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 6 May 2020,
McMullin, Ernan, and Ernan McMullin. The Church and Galileo. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007.
Reston, James. Galileo: a Life. Beard Books, 2000.
Rowland, Wade. Galileo’s Mistake: the Archaeology of a Myth. The Author, 2001.
Shea, William R., and Mariano Artigas. Galileo in Rome: the Rise and Fall of a Troublesome Genius. Oxford University Press, 2005.