Abstract

galileo galilei is one of the few figures in the history of science who has attracted the imagination even of laymen to the natural sciences. the battle of this great physicist against the domination of his church, a battle which he ultimately lost, manifests fundamental human interest that extends beyond the individual. galileo pits the right of the thinking individual against the right of an institution that defends its claim to set norms for individual thinking because it posseses superhuman truths.