The Crime of Galileo

giorgio de santillana

Scientific endeavor & social authority, in one form or another, are characteristics of human life on the planet expected to endure for as long as we can see ahead. In this essay, which aims at analyzing their complex relations, we intend to go at length into the episode which provides, namely, the trial of Galileo & the circumstances that brought it about. But, as we work out the general conditions attendant & dissimilarities occur with the further phase of conflict which is being played out in our time.
Preface
Introduction
The days of discovery
"Domini canes"
Philosophical intermezzo
Saint Robert Bellarmine
The decree
Bellarmine's audience
The years of silence
Urban VIII
The "Dialogue"
The summons
The inquisitors' plight
The trial
The problem of the false injunction
Change of course
The sentence
Aftermath
Index