Galileo Galilei
(1564 - 1642)
In 1633 Galileo Galilei was brought before the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his heliocentric views. Under threat of torture, he was forced to disavow his belief that the earth orbited around the sun. “E pur si muove,” he said after recanting, “but still it moves.” The Church lifted its censure of Galileo’s work in the 1820s.