Galileo Was Forced to Recant His Earth-Moves Theory
On this day · 22 June 1633
Threatened by the Inquisition, the aging astronomer knelt and swore that the Earth stood still at the center of the universe.
After publishing his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems in 1632, Galileo Galilei was summoned to Rome to face the Roman Inquisition. From April 1633 he was called to four hearings; the last, his final interrogation under threat, took place on 21 June 1633, when he was pressed once more about his true beliefs and made to swear an oath of truth.
The next day, 22 June 1633, in the convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the 69-year-old was made to kneel while his sentence was read. Declared “vehemently suspect of heresy,” he recited a formal abjuration, swearing he “abjured, cursed, and detested” the claim that the Sun sits motionless at the center and the Earth moves around it.
With sincere heart I abjure, curse, and detest the aforesaid errors.
His sentence of imprisonment was commuted to house arrest, which he served at his villa in Arcetri until his death in 1642. The legendary muttered protest, “Eppur si muove” (“and yet it moves”), has no contemporary evidence.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
