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Entry: The Galileo Myth Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_galileo_myth#15764 Post contents: Pietro Redondi, in his "Galileo eretico" (trans. as "Galileo Heretic," published 1987 by Princeton University Press) argues on the basis of recently discovered documents that the trial of Galileo was prompted not by his heliocentrism but rather by his atomism. Atomism was a doctrine associated by the church and just about everyone else at this period with Epicurus, whose atheistic account of creation, as related by Lucretius, is remarkably like that underlying the work of modern evolutionists like Stephen Jay Gould. Furthermore, atomism raised questions about the Eucharist and the nature of transsubstantiation that made it suspect. Redondi suggests that Galileo was caught in a rivalry between Franciscans and Jesuits. The Franciscan inquisitor in Florence approved Galileo's work but the Jesuits did not like it and, according to Redondi's account, plotted his downfall. I'm surprised no one here has mentioned these points. Sent at: 2008 12 02