Galileo’s Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico e copernicano (1632) is a surprising book. The two astronomical systems referred to in the title are based on complex geometrical models. In Galileo’s book, the mathematics is limited to simple diagrams and elementary geometry. Also, unusual for a book claiming to be about celestial matters, it deals at length with ideas about how bodies move on earth, ideas that had no place in the systems of Copernicus or Ptolemy.

The book is now famous. Partly because its content so infuriated Pope Urban VIII that he ordered the ageing Galileo from Florence to Rome where he was charged by the Inquisition and—in maybe the most debated of all trials—was found guilty of “vehement suspicion of heresy”. In 1633, Galileo was forced to publicly abjure all Copernican opinion and was sentenced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. His book was banned by the Roman Catholic Church and remained on the Index of Forbidden Books until 1835.

Excerpt from the review.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-024-00970-0