Galileo Galilei

Appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa. He earns 60 florins a year. The philosophy professors earn 2,000. The hierarchy is clear: philosophy sits above mathematics. Galileo spends the next two decades trying to invert it.

Demonstrates his improved telescope to the Venetian Senate. He didn't invent it. A Dutch spectacle maker did. But Galileo grinds his own lenses and achieves 8x magnification, then 20x. The Senate doubles his salary on the spot.

Points his telescope at Jupiter and sees three small stars near it. A few nights later, a fourth appears. They're moving. He realizes they're moons orbiting Jupiter. Not everything revolves around the Earth.

Writes a letter to the Grand Duchess Christina arguing that Scripture and science address different truths. The letter circulates widely. It makes his position clear to Rome. It also makes him a target.

The Roman Catholic Church formally bans him from teaching or defending the idea that the Earth orbits the Sun. Cardinal Bellarmine delivers the warning personally. Galileo agrees to comply. For now.

Publishes Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. The book presents heliocentrism through a character debate. The character defending the Earth-centered view is named Simplicio. The Pope, who had approved the project, suspects Simplicio is a caricature of himself.

The Inquisition finds him "vehemently suspect of heresy." He kneels in a Dominican convent in Rome and reads aloud a prepared recantation. He is 69 years old, ill, and nearly blind. Legend says he muttered "And yet it moves" as he rose. He almost certainly did not.

Publishes Two New Sciences from house arrest. The book, smuggled to a Dutch publisher, lays the groundwork for modern physics and engineering. He is completely blind by now. He dictates to his student Vincenzo Viviani.

Dies at his villa in Arcetri, outside Florence, still under house arrest. He is 77. The Pope refuses to allow a monument or funeral oration. His body is placed in a small room next to the chapel. It will take 95 years for it to be moved to a proper tomb.

Pope John Paul II formally acknowledges the Church's error in condemning Galileo. It has taken 359 years.