murmured
âEppur si muoveâ
(And yet it moves), but the story is entirely in keeping with his views, and in the months that followed he must have said the words many times over to himself.
Galileoâs trial for heresy proved to be just as disastrous for his accusers, the Catholic Church. The church was expected to defend the version of creation as told in Genesis, and the trial of Galileo was the first occasion on which anything so profound had ever challenged the literal truth of the story told in the Bible. History shows that Galileo was not guilty of heresy, but merely seeking the truth, and many years later the Vatican offered a long-overdue apology.
Theologians had always argued and debated about the interpretation of the gospels, and this frequently ledto the formation of new sects and religious orders. This was particularly true in the 16th century when the Protestants made the break with Rome. After this had taken place, astronomers in Protestant countries could build upon the work of Galileo without fear of persecution. Other evidence was waiting to undermine the churchâs beliefs, however. For example, when geologists first began to challenge the age of the Earth from the dating of the rocks, and later in the 19th century when Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution.
8
JEREMIAH HORROCKS
Father of English Astronomy
The story of astronomical discovery now moves to England where, free from the religious dogma that had bedeviled earlier Italian astronomers, scientists could build on theories such as heliocentrism. At the forefront of these endeavors was the momentous and prolific work of Jeremiah Horrocks, rightly described as âthe father of English astronomy.â
The Mersey spreading and presently contracting its stream from Warrington falls into the ocean with a wide channel very convenient for trade, where opens to view Litherpole, commonly called Lirpoole, from a water extending like a pool, according to the common opinion, where is the most convenient and most frequented passage to Ireland: a town more famous for its beauty and populousness than for its antiquity;its name occurs in no ancient writer except that of Roger of Poictou who was lord, as stated of Lancaster, built a castle here, the custody of which has now for a long time belonged to the noble and knightly family of Molineux ⦠This Roger held, as appears in the Domesday book, all the lands between the rivers Ribble and Mersey.
Once a Beautiful Landscape
The above description of Liverpool, found in the journal
Britannia
compiled by historian William Camden (1551â1623), may not sound very much like the sprawling English city of today. The account was written in the 1580s when the population numbered less than a thousand. Early in the following century, when Jeremiah Horrocks (1618â41) was born there, the number of residents had still not reached four figures. When Camden praised Liverpoolâs beauty he was not guilty of any form of flattery. By the standards of the times Liverpool was a very clean and attractive seaside town with fine beaches of golden sand. To the north there were virgin sand dunes that stretched nearly 20 miles (32 km) along the coastâmuch further than the eye could see. To the southwest lay the rural Cheshire peninsula of the Wirral, bounded by the River Mersey and the River Dee. The vista further south showed the snow-capped peaks of Snowdonia in Wales. To the north were the mountainsof the Lake District, and on a clear day Snaefell and the mountains of the Isle of Man could be seen from higher vantage points.
Near the castle there was a small natural inlet called the Liver Pool, and it was here that the shipping was accommodated. The pool was fed by a small stream, which ran through a leafy dale known as Dale Street. There was a small bridge giving access to the area âover the pool,â and here a small Puritan community had established itself in an area called
âEppur si muoveâ
(And yet it moves), but the story is entirely in keeping with his views, and in the months that followed he must have said the words many times over to himself.
Galileoâs trial for heresy proved to be just as disastrous for his accusers, the Catholic Church. The church was expected to defend the version of creation as told in Genesis, and the trial of Galileo was the first occasion on which anything so profound had ever challenged the literal truth of the story told in the Bible. History shows that Galileo was not guilty of heresy, but merely seeking the truth, and many years later the Vatican offered a long-overdue apology.
Theologians had always argued and debated about the interpretation of the gospels, and this frequently ledto the formation of new sects and religious orders. This was particularly true in the 16th century when the Protestants made the break with Rome. After this had taken place, astronomers in Protestant countries could build upon the work of Galileo without fear of persecution. Other evidence was waiting to undermine the churchâs beliefs, however. For example, when geologists first began to challenge the age of the Earth from the dating of the rocks, and later in the 19th century when Charles Darwin first published his theory of evolution.
8
JEREMIAH HORROCKS
Father of English Astronomy
The story of astronomical discovery now moves to England where, free from the religious dogma that had bedeviled earlier Italian astronomers, scientists could build on theories such as heliocentrism. At the forefront of these endeavors was the momentous and prolific work of Jeremiah Horrocks, rightly described as âthe father of English astronomy.â
The Mersey spreading and presently contracting its stream from Warrington falls into the ocean with a wide channel very convenient for trade, where opens to view Litherpole, commonly called Lirpoole, from a water extending like a pool, according to the common opinion, where is the most convenient and most frequented passage to Ireland: a town more famous for its beauty and populousness than for its antiquity;its name occurs in no ancient writer except that of Roger of Poictou who was lord, as stated of Lancaster, built a castle here, the custody of which has now for a long time belonged to the noble and knightly family of Molineux ⦠This Roger held, as appears in the Domesday book, all the lands between the rivers Ribble and Mersey.
Once a Beautiful Landscape
The above description of Liverpool, found in the journal
Britannia
compiled by historian William Camden (1551â1623), may not sound very much like the sprawling English city of today. The account was written in the 1580s when the population numbered less than a thousand. Early in the following century, when Jeremiah Horrocks (1618â41) was born there, the number of residents had still not reached four figures. When Camden praised Liverpoolâs beauty he was not guilty of any form of flattery. By the standards of the times Liverpool was a very clean and attractive seaside town with fine beaches of golden sand. To the north there were virgin sand dunes that stretched nearly 20 miles (32 km) along the coastâmuch further than the eye could see. To the southwest lay the rural Cheshire peninsula of the Wirral, bounded by the River Mersey and the River Dee. The vista further south showed the snow-capped peaks of Snowdonia in Wales. To the north were the mountainsof the Lake District, and on a clear day Snaefell and the mountains of the Isle of Man could be seen from higher vantage points.
Near the castle there was a small natural inlet called the Liver Pool, and it was here that the shipping was accommodated. The pool was fed by a small stream, which ran through a leafy dale known as Dale Street. There was a small bridge giving access to the area âover the pool,â and here a small Puritan community had established itself in an area called
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