Long lost letter of Galileo found at the library of the Royal Society

Nature Journalist Alison Abbott has published an article in the newspaper detailing the results of a letter in a library of the Royal Society believed to have been written by renowned award-winning scientist Galileo Galilei. The letter is significant because it proves that the scientist is trying to minimize his arguments about controversial ideas in astronomy.

Galileo is known for his discoveries with the help of one of the first telescopes and for his fight against the Catholic Church about the position of the sun and planets. His studies convinced him that Nicolaus Copernicus was right 100 years ago – the Earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. After publishing an article titled "Dialogue Regarding the Two Major Global Systems", the Catholic Church Inquisition has sentenced him to house arrest for the last nine years of his life.

The circumstances of his initial problems with the Church, however, are curious about the disappearance of a letter he wrote to a friend and colleague almost 20 years ago. In this letter, he explained his views on the placement of the sun and planets and his belief that certain sections of the Bible regarding the place of the Earth in the universe should not be taken literally. The letter was delivered to a man named Niccolò Lorini who sent a copy to the ecclesiastical authorities. Worried that the letter might cause him trouble, Galileo edited some sections of the original letter to make it more palatable and sent it to a church official, claiming that Lorini had tampered with his note. But the original letter edited was lost in history. Without this, historians have wondered if Galileo was trying to prevent trouble by diluting his arguments. Now this argument seems to have been settled with the discovery of the original letter.

The letter was found by Salvatore Ricciardo of the University of Bergamo. He was browsing a catalog in a library of the Royal Society when he came across the letter and immediately recognized its importance. Early tests suggest that it's authentic – Galileo's original letter with barred parts and added new words while he was trying to soften his arguments.

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More information:
Alison Abbott. The discovery of Galileo's lost letter shows that he published his heretical ideas to deceive the Inquisition, Nature (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / d41586-018-06769-4