Often, when using quotes, we forget about the people to whom these words belong. Meanwhile, each phrase that has become a catch phrase has not only an author, but also a history of its occurrence. Who said "And yet it spins?". This phrase also has its own history and its author, although most of us do not know about it.
Catch phrase "And yet it spins" - what is it about?
Since ancient Greece, the only correct model of the universe has been the geocentric model. Simply put, the Earth was the center of the universe, and the Sun, moon, stars and other celestial bodies revolved around it. It was believed that some kind of support keeps the Earth from falling - one of the ancient scientists suggested that our planet rests on three huge elephants, which in turn stand on a giant turtle, someone believed that such a support is the oceans or compressed air. In any case, regardless of the type of support and the shape of the Earth, it was this theory that was accepted by the Catholic Church as consistent with the Holy Scriptures.
During the periodThe first scientific revolution, which took place in the Renaissance, was widely adopted by the heliocentric theory of the universe, according to which the Sun is at the center of the universe, and all other objects revolve around it. Strictly speaking, the heliocentric model appeared much earlier - ancient thinkers spoke about this order of motion of celestial bodies.
Where did this saying come from?
In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church zealously controlled all scientific works and hypotheses, and scientists who expressed thoughts that differed from church ideas about the universe were persecuted. When astronomers began to talk about the fact that the Earth is not the center of the universe, but only revolves around the Sun, the clergy did not accept the new version of the structure of the universe.
According to a popular legend, a scientist who claimed that the center of the universe is the Sun, and all other celestial bodies (including the Earth) revolve around it, was sentenced by the Holy Inquisition to be burned at the stake for heretical views. And before the execution of the sentence, he stamped his foot on the platform and said: "And yet it is spinning!" Who is the real scientist in this legend? Mysteriously, three great personalities of that time mixed in it at once - Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus and Giordano Bruno.
Nicholas Copernicus
Nicholas Copernicus - Polish astronomer, who laid the foundation for new views on the structure andorder of motion of bodies in the universe. It is he who is considered the author of the heliocentric system of the world, which became one of the impetuses for the scientific revolution of the Renaissance. And although Copernicus was the scientist who contributed to the widespread dissemination of a new vision of the universe, he was not persecuted by the church during his lifetime, and died in his bed from a serious illness at the age of 70. Moreover, the scientist himself was a clergyman. And only in 1616, 73 years later, the Catholic Church issued an official ban on the protection and support of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. The reason for such a ban was the decision of the Inquisition that the views of Copernicus contradict the Holy Scriptures and are erroneous in faith.
Thus, Nicolaus Copernicus could not be the author of the famous saying - during his lifetime he was not tried for heretical theories.
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei is an Italian physicist who was an active supporter of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. Indeed, in the end, the support of these ideas led Galileo to the inquisitorial process, as a result of which he was forced to repent and renounce the heliocentric system of the universe. However, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, which was later commuted to house arrest and constant supervision by the Holy Inquisition.
This lawsuit has become a symbol of the confrontation between science and the church, but contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that it was Galileo Galilei "But it still spins" said and was the author of thesewords. Even in the biography of the great physicist, written by his student and follower, there is not a single mention of this catch phrase.
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno is the only one of the three scientists who was burned at the stake, although this happened in 1600 - 16 years before the ban on the heliocentric theory. Moreover, the scientist was recognized as a heretic for completely different reasons. Despite the dignity of the clergyman, Bruno adhered to the ideas that, for example, that Christ was a magician. It was for this reason that Giordano Bruno was first imprisoned, and a few years later, without recognizing his beliefs as erroneous, he was excommunicated as an adamant heretic and sentenced to be burned. Information about Bruno's trial that has survived to this day indicates that science was not mentioned at all in the verdict.
Thus, Giordano Bruno not only has nothing to do with the famous expression, he was condemned for thoughts that have nothing to do with either Copernican theory or science in general. Therefore, part of the legend of the church fighting objectionable scientists with such radical methods is also fiction.
Who said "And yet it spins!"?
What have we come to? Who really owns these famous words, if Galileo did not shout "But still it spins"? It is believed that this phrase began to be attributed to Galileo shortly after his death. In fact, the Spanish artist Murillo is the one who said "And yet sheturns. "More precisely, he didn’t even say, but painted. In 1646, one of his students painted a portrait of Galileo, in which the scientist is depicted in a dungeon. And only after almost 2.5 centuries, art critics discovered a hidden part of the picture behind a wide frame. On a fragment under the frame sketches of the planets revolving around the Sun were depicted, as well as the phrase that became famous all over the world and survived through the centuries: "Eppus si muove!".
