HW #3

Ch 2: #57: The Galileo Affair: In recent years, the Vatican has devoted a lot of resources to learning more about the trial of Galileo and understanding past actions of the Church in the Galileo case. Learn more about such studies, and write a short report about the current Vatican view of the case. 

Historically, the case of Galileo v. the Church has been one of the greatest controversies facing the Catholic Church. The Church has received much scrutiny over their conviction of Galileo and his heliocentric teachings. Charged with "heresy", Galileo lived the last 8 years of his life under house arrest, unable to share his theories on heliocentricity. Many people view this as the beginning of the separation of science and religion. People, mainly non-religious people, ridicule the Vatican for its outdated ruling. In recent years though, the Catholic Church has done further research into what really happened during the time of Galileo's trial. Much of the Vatican's defense for its past decision was that they simply wanted Galileo to teach heliocentrism as a theory to explain planetary motion and not directly challenge what was written in the scripture. 350 years later, Pope John Paul II removed the outdated ruling on Galileo's trial and had the Vatican formally embrace heliocentrism. In recounting the events of the actual trial however, the Catholic Church hold firm that they have always supported the sciences and that Galileo acted out of turn during and after the affair. They argue the fact that, at the time Galileo's claims did not answer the greatest evidence for geocentrism, the lack of  stellar parallax. The Church also points out that most people back then took a much more literal interpretation to the Bible, rather than the more metaphorical approaches we see today. Not only that, but in his book, Dialogue on the Two World Systems, Galileo ridiculed Pope Urban VIII who had been one of his few possible supporters. In the book, Galileo explains Urban VIII's views through the words of the character Simplicio, whose name can translate to "simpleton" in certain Italian dialects. While the Church has recognized its mistakes in regards to the Galileo affair, the Vatican also holds firm that given the circumstances, they made the right decision at the time.

Sources:
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-galileo-controversy
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/galileo-is-convicted-of-heresy

Ch 3: #44: Our Cosmic Origin: Write two paragraphs summarizing why we could not be here if the Universe did not contain both stars and Galaxies.

Stars and Galaxies are part of a cycle where clouds of gas collapse and condense to the point where they form into stars and planets. Specifically, stars are born when the cloud of dust and gas is dense enough and get hot enough to undergo nuclear fusion and create energy. Throughout their lives, stars burn through their fuel supply for nuclear fusion. When they eventually run out, the stars explode and send its materials back to the empty spaces in their Galaxy. This left over debris accumulates over time and eventually forms a new cloud of gas and dust which will turn into a new star or planet. The cycle of stars created in Galaxies also gives way to the creation of planets. Without stars and Galaxies, there would be no planets, which is a clear example as to why we couldn't be here without them.

If a star is big enough, it can carry out nuclear fusion to a further point than just He. Given high enough temperatures and pressures, nearing the ends of their lives, stars produce carbon, oxygen, silicon, neon and many other elements through nuclear fusion. Once the star dies, all of these elements get sent out into space where they collect to form new stars and planets. It's these processes that provided us with the many elements that developed not only our planet, but our life. As Carl Sagan said, we are "star stuff". Without Galaxies, we wouldn't have stars or planets, and without stars, we wouldn't have the basic building blocks of life.

Source:
Life in the Universe by Bennett and Shostak