| -Aristotle stated that objects of different weight would hit the ground at different times when dropped from the same height, but Galileo disproved this and showed that Copernicus's way of thinking was more correct. He did this by dropping balls of different weight at the same time, at the same height from the Tower of Pisa. |
| The Conflict: Galileo vs. the Vatican |
| Although Copernican Theories, the kind of theories Galileo supported, were true, not all agreed with this. In fact, Aristotle's theories were dominant at that time. People thought that everything revolved around the Earth, our planet. The Vatican (the residence of the catholic pope) heartily dissagreed with this. He wrote several books concerning Copernican ideas, but almost all of them were burned by the church, who regarded Galileo and his ideas as "heresy." Many trials were held with Galileo, and he was threatened with torture and death many times. He was ordered to recant his ideas. Although he never really did, in order to escape punishment, he says he does. |
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| Galileo's Copernican Ideas |
| -Aristotle thought that all celestial bodies, including the Sun, revolved around the Earth. Galileo, however, upon observing space through a telescope, realized that the Sun was the true center of the universe, not the Earth. |
| -The (catholic) church at the time believed that |