When did the church realize that Galileo was correct?

Answer 1

It became generally agreed that the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System after Newton's discoveries in the century after Galileo's death made it possible to calculate the mass of planets and the Sun, and it was realised that the Sun must be at the centre because it is so massive.

The other major piece of evidence, the parallax of stars observed as the Earth moves round the Sun, was not discovered until the 19th century.

That gave the proof of the heliocentric system that the church asked Galileo for, but it was not available to anyone at that time (1610), which is why the church said he must not state that the Sun actually is at the centre although they said it was all right to assume it for modelling and prediction purposes. His trial came after he persisted in stating publicly that the Sun is at the centre, which contradicted scientific and theological beliefs at the time.

A2. Galileo was of course n the right track, but the planets do not describe circles round the Sun, and it was up to Newton, who proved that the path of planets were elipses, that their real behaviour was better explained.

Answer 2

We cannot say when Galileo Galilei proved Aristotle wrong because Copernicus started the movement of the heliocentric method. We can say that he realized that the paleocentric or the geocentric model of the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian universe was erred when he looked into the skies with his telescope.

He noticed Jupiter and its moons and found that it followed a regular pattern around the planet. He argued that this was evidence itself that earth is not the foundation of the universe as proposed by The Bible. He supported De Revolutionibus of Copernicus and later had to face the Inquisition for this 'heresy'.

So we may say he proved Aristotle wrong on 7 January 161, the day he observed the planet Jupiter with his refracting telescope

Answer 3

What is the of pendulum theory of Galilio