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This undated picture shows an engraving of astronomer Galileo Galilei.
(AP Photo, File)
Galileo: revolutionary astronomer and first master of spin.
Researchers in the United Kingdom say they have found a long-lost letter from Galileo, which shows that he had engaged in a little deception to repel the Inquisition.
Everything is arranged in Nature, and it takes a little unpacking. The saga began when Galileo wrote to a friend in 1613 saying that he now believed that the Earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around.
This was heretical in the eyes of the Catholic Church, but in his letter, Galileo made fun of the idea of literally taking the Bible on such topics.
The copies went around and Galileo had to face big problems when a brother forwarded it to the Inquisition. It is at this point that researchers say that Galileo has become devious – asking his friend to return the original text to be able to soften it.
For example, Galileo wrote that some things in the Bible were "false," but he changed that to say that they "seemed different from the truth." its original and that the version in the hands of the church had been tampered with by enemies.
The researchers say that they know it now because they found the original letter in the Royal Society's library in Britain, where it was discovered by chance last month after being mis-labeled.
They say the changes are in Galileo's own hand, showing that he was trying to exert damage control, by Nature.
Do not judge him hard for that, writes Jennifer Ouellette at Ars Technica. The changes are minor and "it is difficult for us to conceive how dangerous the 17th century was for scientists and scholars who dared to cross the Catholic Church".
In any event, Galileo would be found guilty of heresy in 1633 and spent the last nine years of his life under house arrest. (All thanks to his revolutionary telescope.)
This article is published on Newser: Galileo is unobtrusive to repel the inquisition
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