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The long lost letter of Galileo Galilei, dated December 21, 1613, addressed to Padre Benedetto Castelli. The letter was found in the archives of the Royal Society.
Credit: copyright The Royal Society
Did Galileo Galilee really say all these terrible things that the Vatican said he did in his famous letter of 1613 about a solar system centered on the sun – and by saying that, violated the doctrine of the Church ? Or did the Catholic Church change its words to make it look bad, so they could more easily declare it a heretic? A long lost letter that has recently emerged from a library archive in the UK might finally pose this question.
The discovery highlights the claims made by Galileo when he was criticized for suggesting that the church remain true to religion and stay out of science, Nature recently reported.
According to Galileo, when the officials of the inquisition presented a copy of his letter as evidence of heresy, the words had been changed to make them more inflammatory. Galileo even produced another copy of the letter with much less incendiary language, to prove that he was going ashore. [Science and the Catholic Church: A Turbulent History]
But the newly discovered document tells a different story.
Discovered in the library of the Royal Society by an Italian historian passing in August, the new letter had languished for centuries after being classified under the wrong date, according to Nature. It seems to be an original draft of the letter that Galileo sent to his friend Benedetto Castelli in 1613 and which is signed with "G.G." – The initials of Galileo.
In this letter, Galileo condemned the Catholic Church's interpretations of astronomy; these arguments were used against him when the inquisition brought him to trial – and found him guilty – in 1633.
The second page of the letter of 1613 Galileo.
Credit: copyright The Royal Society
The new document contains many corrections, in an attempt to reduce the language that could be considered heretical, reported Nature. The words that Galileo first put on paper and who criticized the church harshly were then struck out and corrected, suggesting that he had self-published to make his statements less shocking to the people. eyes of the church, according to Nature.
For example, one passage referred to some biblical statements as "false"; the description was then crossed out and changed to read "different from the truth".
If the document is what it seems to be, Galileo's original word choices were much more questionable than the version sent to the Vatican, which he said was a "fraud" broadcast "under the guise of zeal and charity ", in a 1615 letter to a friend and religious named Piero Dini.
A description and interpretation of the letter will be published in the Royal Society's Notes and Records, Nature reports.
Original article on Science live.
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