Copernicus and the trial of Galileo.

The Solar System has two theories to it. One theory was the Heliocentric theory. This stated that the sun was located at the center of the solar system. Opposed to this theory was the Geocentric theory, which stated that the Earth was the center of the solar system. At first, everyone believed in the Geocentric theory because it came first. It seemed pretty obvious, because everything in the sky would rise and set, or go around the Earth. It wasn't until the 16th century, when scientists were actually proving this theory wrong. Copernicus presented a mathematical model of the Heliocentric theory. The Heliocentric theory came out of the scientific revolution, where Copernicus studied the movements around the Earth. He came to a conclusion that Earth was only one of a number of planets that are orbiting around the sun. Sure enough, there were big disputes between the two theories, and even sparked a major court case known as the "Trail of Galileo."



The trial was held in 1633 at the Inquisition building. The Catholic church put Galileo on trial because he was teaching things that they didn't believe in, and were against the catholic religion. Galileo believed in the heliocentric theory, and that the Earth was not the center of the universe. The Catholic church was against this because they believed that the Earth was in the center, as stated in the bible. The catholic church won the trial, and Galileo was put on house arrest. He then suddenly went blind, and died shortly after in 1642.