Galileo’s Movement: 1610–1659

“Eppur si muove”—and yet it moves—Galileo supposedly said when the Inquisition released him after the most famous clash in history between religion and science. Galileo was a giant who dominated astronomy and physics at the start of the 17th century. Sometimes regarded as the ‘first scientist’ for his experimental and deductive approach, he was an essential spark for the Scientific Revolution. If only for his willingness to abandon precedent when demanded by the data, he deserves to have a revolution named after him. His importance goes far beyond demonstrating that the Earth moves, or analyzing the movement of individual objects, into basing scientific conclusions on reproducible observations and experiments. A (typically) arrogant attitude is captured by his saying, “As to the mere authority of ancient and modern philosophers and mathematicians, I say that that has no power at all to establish a knowledge of any physical proposition… Modern observations deprive all former writers of any authority, since if they had seen what we see, they would have judged as we judge.” The persecution of Galileo could be a parable for modern times. Refusal to replace Ptolemy with Copernicus represents climate change denial. The insistence of the Church on placing its belief system above the facts represents creationism. And those who refused to look through Galileo’s telescope because they might be deceived by appearances stand for anti-vaxxers.