Copernicus

I was very interesting reading about the findings of Copernicus.  Specifically, reading about how certain heavenly fixtures can be observed in Egypt but not Italy, conversely certain fixtures in the sky were visible in Italy and not in Egypt.  I often wondered about how the conclusion and supporting evidence was used to show that the earth was indeed a sphere and not flat.  It makes it even more remarkable that this view was certainly a minority view at this time.  To think these scientists did not have any expensive gadgets or any technology and they just relied on basic fundamentals to support their claims.  I often wonder if there are scientists today that are completely ostracized from the scientific community but possibly hundreds of years from now they will be looked upon as genius. 

Trial of Galileo

I'm not a biblical scholar of any sort, but its interesting that Galileo was put on trial for heresy.  One of the reasons claimed is because his assertion that the Sun is in the middle of the universe conflicted with the Catholic Church's view of scripture. However, I don't know if I've ever heard a place in the Bible that explains the alignment of the planets and specifically the sun. I wonder of there were basing these accusations on the actual Bible or just because it conflicted with the previous writing of Pope's or other influential members of the Vatican. 

I would think that during this time, if the Pope said something and someone had conflicting information it probably behooved the Catholic Church to silence any opinion that differed from the church. Just my guess, again I'm not a Biblical scholar. Overall, pretty impressive though that Galileo was spot on with his observations.  Unfortunately, he was largely condemned for his views during his time.  I guess though he gets to brag in heaven that he was right and they were wrong.