Scientist and cleric

Philip Sampson  |  Reviews
Date posted:  1 May 2011
Share Add       

GALILEO
By J.L. Heilbron
Oxford Unuiversity Press. 508 pages. £20.00
ISBN 978 0 199 583 522

Asked to name a famous scientist, most people would come up with Galileo, Newton or Einstein. But Galileo is special. He is also known as the martyr of science; a champion of reason over faith, persecuted by obscurantist Christianity. The dust jacket of this book has just this flavour. Happily, Heilbron is better informed than his dust jacket suggests. He elsewhere notes that the dogmatic opposition between Church and Science ‘makes too good and simple a story to ruin with facts’, but ruin it he does, for this biography is very well informed indeed.1

It has been said that Galileo is best known for the things he never did, such as inventing the telescope. This is a shame, as his real achievements are well worth the telling.

Share
< Previous article| Reviews| Next article >
Read more articles by Philip Sampson >>

The Bible and the banks

Of the many recent articles about the credit crunch, few have brought a biblical perspective. But if ‘everything under heaven …

Beastly TV

Chicken is on the menu. And not just chicken, but baby animals as well: piglets, lamb, kid goats and veal. …

About en

Our vision, values and history.

Read more

Need to advertise?

We can help you reach Christians across the country.

Find out more