JUNIOR CYCLE HISTORY Science during the Renaissance


The infl uence of humanism meant that people were very interested in understanding the world around them. Since ancient times, people had believed that our planet was the centre of the solar system and that the sun and the other planets rotated around it. The Catholic Church held this view, as it supported their belief that God had created the Earth and humankind and made them central. As astronomers began to examine the skies, this belief was challenged.


A Life in Time: A Renaissance Scientist: Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)


Early life and work


Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564 and studied mathematics at Pisa University. He developed a number of theories about space and time, including the Law of Falling Objects. He proved that all objects fall to ground at the same speed regardless of weight, supposedly by dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.


The astronomer


While Professor of Mathematics in Padua, Galileo heard of a Dutch invention called the telescope, and improved upon it to magnify objects many hundreds of times using increasingly small and powerful lenses. He used his telescope to study the planets and stars (astronomy) and made several important discoveries, which he published in The Starry Messenger in 1610:


• the surface of the moon has craters and mountains • Saturn has rings


Galileo vs. the Catholic Church


In the 1540s a Polish priest and astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, wrote a book called On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, where he declared that the Earth rotates around the sun. He published it at the very end of his life for fear of the Catholic Church’s reaction. Galileo read it and backed up Copernicus in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems in 1632. The Church was furious. The Pope ordered that Galileo be put on trial before the Inquisition (a Church court). He was convicted of heresy (knowingly holding a view that went against the offi cial teachings of the Catholic Church). Galileo was terrifi ed of being burned at the stake, the usual punishment for heretics, and eventually agreed to say he was wrong. His books were banned by the Church and he was kept under house arrest until his death in 1642.


CHECKPOINT!


1. Before the Renaissance, what did people believe about the relationship between the Earth and the sun? 2. What was Galileo’s Law of Falling Objects? 3. Name two of his astronomical discoveries.


4. Why did his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems get him into trouble with the Catholic Church?


5. What does Galileo’s trial by the Inquisition in the 1630s tell us about the Church at the time? .


I understand the contribution made by Galileo to science during the Renaissance.


TIME TO GO BACK I CAN MOVE FORWARD 111  Galileo Galilei


• Jupiter has four moons • there are spots on the sun


8 The Renaissance


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