A scientist evaluates the Galileo affair

Page 86 from "The Imagined Conflict"

A persistent myth is that Galileo's observations (see image) were proof that the Earth revolves around the sun. Galileo himself knew very well that he did not have a very good case scientifically for this hypothesis. He tried to advance an erroneous argument based on the tides for the Earth's orbit, but it convinced few.

In chapter 3 of “The Imagined Conflict” (Wipf & Stock, 2025), a major section entitled “Galileo was right and so were his critics”* is devoted to Galileo (pp. 85-102). My claim is that this chapter has one of the most accessible and comprehensive accounts available about the science at the time of Galileo. Unique for my book among science-faith literature is also that it has more than 40 illustrations.