Abstract

The story of the conflict between the Church and science in 17th century is frequently focused on the tragic cases of Giordano Bruno and Galileo, two great scientists and free-thinking truth-fighters who became victims of the inquisitorial trials. Against this background the author provides an evidence that Galileo was a widely respected person, enjoying the fame of the greatest living scientist of the time, with greatest scientific and astronomical achievements to his credit, among them the invention of telescope, discovery of Sun-spots, as well as discovery of the satellites of the Jupiter; he also enjoyed the protection of his powerful friend and supporter Cosma Medici. Author claims that his conflict with the Church authorities was, to significant extent, caused by his personal attitude toward the Church. Galileo thought that he can afford openly to contest the writings of Jesuits, the Church intellectual elite of the time. He did so by publishing impolite articles and polemics, harshly criticising Jesuit astronomers and their scientific works. In so doing he prejudiced them against himself. As a result, he was accused of blasphemy and was eventually put to trial. The author recounts some details of both Galileo’s trials and argues that a more modest style of argument would be much more conducive to the establishment of the Copernican cosmology than the one Galileo actually employed. In this context the example of Johannes Kepler is worth reminding: having bowed his head before the authorities of the Church, he succeeded where Galileo failed; he managed to persuade the world that Copernican point of view in cosmology is legitimate one without falling into a trouble with the Inquisition. Key words BRUNO, GALILEO, KEPLER