Galileo: Right On the Solar System, Wrong On Ice

carmendrahl writes "Famed astronomer Galileo Galilei is best known for taking on the Catholic Church by championing the idea that the Earth moves around the sun. But he also engaged in a debate with a philosopher about why ice floats on water. While his primary arguments were correct, he went too far, belittling legitimate, contradictory evidence given by his opponent, Ludovico delle Colombe. Galileo's erroneous arguments during the water debate are a useful reminder that the path to scientific enlightenment is not often direct and that even our intellectual heroes can sometimes be wrong."

Comments

Re:The Big Issue with Galileo

[RespekMyAthorati]

When in truth, Galileo was given a backhanded patronage. He was put on a house arrest.

Because he backed down, unlike Bruno, who was burned to death by "his Holiness". Gee, I wonder why?