Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa Italy in 1564. He was known for many discoveries and inventions but he is most famous for his studies of gravity and for examining the stars with his telescope. He discovered that the earth orbited around the sun. It had long been thought and taught that the earth was the center of the universe and that everything else orbited the earth. People were so unwilling to change their beliefs that Galileo was soon persecuted for his discoveries. .
Galileo was denounced by the Roman Catholic Church, which were the biggest supporters of the earth being the center of the universe. They had preached this for centuries and to say anything to the contrary was blasphemy. Galileo, being a stubborn man only flaunted his discoveries in the church's face. His work was soon banned and he was placed under house arrest by the church. .
This sort of behavior by the church was common in those days. The church had the power to condemn anyone or anything that went against their moral word. Scientific work in these days was often looked at as perverse and unnatural. Galileo is probably lucky he wasn't burned at the steak and called a witch or a devil. Luckily for us Galileo survived his ordeal with the church and his works today are seen as the beginnings of our quest to explain our place in the universe. For this he is given the esteemed title; Father of Modern Science. .
The persecutions that Galileo endured illustrate the intensely uneasy relationship between the church and science at that time. The next great conflict between the two would involve the issue of creation. It is still a great topic of debate today.
The next famous man who comes into conflict with religion is Charles Darwin. From 1831 to 1836 Darwin served as naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle on a British science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species.