Galileo antichrist

About This Book

"Galileo is one of a small group of historical figures known by first name alone, his achievements placing him amongst the giants of science: Darwin, Newton and Einstein. He was a crucial figure in the Scientific Revolution, for many, a martyr whose brilliance and stubbornness saw him crushed by the might of the Roman Catholic Church." "A talented artist and an accomplished musician, Galileo had once considered a career in the priesthood but died a victim of the Inquisition - an ailing, blind old man who whiled away his last days under house arrest, his works banned and his ideas suppressed throughout the Catholic world." "Michael White investigates the man and his work, placing both in the context of a time when religious and scientific understanding had become deeply and dangerously intertwined. Against the backdrop of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, he traces the path that led to Galileo's denunciation as a heretic and finds the story tainted by evidence of conspiracy and cover-up." "Bullish, arrogant and supremely confident, Galileo spoke out when a more cautious man might have held his tongue, but White suggests that his adherence to Copernicanism was not the true reason he was dragged to Rome. In fact, White argues, he had stumbled on ideas of a much more dangerous nature - so dangerous that they threatened to shake the very foundations of Catholicism at a time when the Church was at its most vulnerable."--BOOK JACKET.