The term "pseudoscience" goes far back to the Middle Ages. We can remember Copernicus, who was burned because he said "But the Earth is still spinning" ... ". The author of this fantastic quote, where three different people are confused, is politician Boris Gryzlov.
In fact, Galileo Galilei was persecuted for heliocentrism (the notion that the center of our planetary system is the Sun). The great astronomer was forced to renounce his views, but the phrase "But still it spins!" he didn't say it's a late legend. Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived earlier, the founder of heliocentrism and a Catholic clergyman, also died a natural death (his doctrine was officially condemned only 73 years later). But Giordano Bruno was burned on February 17, 1600 in Rome on charges of heresy.
There are many myths around this name. The most common of them sounds something like this: "The cruel Catholic Church burned an advanced thinker, scientist, follower of the ideas of Copernicus that the Universe is infinite, and the Earth revolves around the Sun."
Back in 1892, a biographical essay by Yuli Antonovsky “Giordano Bruno. His life and philosophical activity. This is the real "life of the saint" of the Renaissance. It turns out that the first miracle happened to Bruno in infancy - a snake crawled into his cradle, but the boy scared his father with a cry, and he killed the creature. Further more. Since childhood, the hero has been distinguished by outstanding abilities in many areas, fearlessly arguing with opponents and defeating them with the help of scientific arguments. As a very young man, he receives all-European fame and, in the prime of his life, fearlessly dies in the flames of a fire.
A beautiful legend about the martyr of science, who died at the hands of medieval barbarians, from the Church, which "has always been against knowledge." So beautiful that for many a real person ceased to exist, and in his place a mythical character appeared - Nikolai Brunovich Galilei. He lives a separate life, steps from one work to another and convincingly defeats imaginary opponents.
But it has nothing to do with the real person. Giordano Bruno was an irritable, impulsive and explosive man, a Dominican friar, and a scientist more in name than in fact. His “one but true passion” was not science, but magic and the desire to create a single world religion based on ancient Egyptian mythology and medieval Gnostic ideas.
Here, for example, is one of the conspiracies to the goddess Venus, which can be found in the writings of Bruno: “Venus is good, beautiful, most beautiful, kind, benevolent, merciful, sweet, pleasant, shining, starry, Dionea, fragrant, cheerful, Aphogeny, fertile, merciful , generous, beneficent, peaceful, graceful, witty, fiery, the greatest conciliator, mistress of love ”(F. Yeats. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. M .: New Literary Review, 2000).
It is unlikely that these words are appropriate in the works of a Dominican monk or an astronomer. But they are very reminiscent of conspiracies, which are still used by some "white" and "black" magicians.
Bruno never considered himself a student or follower of Copernicus, and was engaged in astronomy only to the extent that it helped him find "strong sorcery" (to use the expression from the "goblin translation" of The Lord of the Rings). Here is how one of the listeners of Bruno's speech at Oxford (though rather biased) describes what the speaker was talking about: “He decided, among so many other questions, to state the opinion of Copernicus that the earth goes in a circle, but the heavens rest; although in fact it was his own head that was spinning and his brains could not calm down ”(quote from the specified work by F. Yeats).
Bruno patted his older comrade on the shoulder in absentia and said: yes, Copernicus "we owe the liberation from certain false assumptions of the general vulgar philosophy, if not from blindness." However, "he did not go far from them, because, knowing mathematics more than nature, he could not go so deep and penetrate into the latter as to destroy the roots of difficulties and false principles." In other words, Copernicus operated with exact sciences and did not seek secret magical knowledge, therefore, from Bruno's point of view, he was not “advanced” enough.
Many readers of the fiery Giordano could not understand why among his writings on the art of memorization or the organization of the world there are some crazy schemes and references to ancient and ancient Egyptian gods. In fact, it was these things that were most important for Bruno, and the mechanisms of memory training, descriptions of the infinity of the Universe were just a cover. Bruno, no less, called himself a new apostle.
Such views led the philosopher to the stake. Unfortunately, the full text of Bruno's sentence has not been preserved. From the documents that have come down to us and the testimonies of contemporaries, it follows that the Copernican ideas, which the defendant expressed in his own way, were also among the accusations, but did not make a difference in the inquisitorial investigation.
This investigation went on for eight years. The inquisitors tried to understand in detail the views of the thinker, to carefully study his works. All eight years he was persuaded to repentance. However, the philosopher refused to acknowledge the accusations. As a result, the Inquisitorial Tribunal recognized him as "an unrepentant, stubborn and inflexible heretic." Bruno was deprived of his priesthood, excommunicated and executed (V. S. Rozhitsyn. Giordano Bruno and the Inquisition. M .: AN SSSR, 1955).
Of course, imprisoning a person and then burning him at the stake just for expressing certain views (albeit false ones) is unacceptable for people of the 21st century. And in the 17th century, such measures did not add to the popularity of the Catholic Church. However, this tragedy cannot be viewed as a struggle between science and religion. Compared with Giordano Bruno, medieval scholastics are more like modern historians defending traditional chronology from the fantasies of Academician Fomenko than stupid and narrow-minded people who struggled with advanced scientific thought.
It seems that we were told this at school: the great physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei was forced to renounce his beliefs for the sake of the Holy Inquisition. But at the last moment he changed his mind and declared publicly: "E pur si muove!"
No, he didn't. His views did not change after demonstrative repentance, but there is not a single evidence that Galileo said something like that. Biography of Galileo, which was written in 1655-1656. by his student Vincenzo Viviani, does not contain any mention of it.
Popular
The phrase was attributed to him by popular rumor, but this happened after his death. We remind you that the physicist died in his bed, sick and blind. For the first time in print, these words were attributed to Galileo in 1757 - 124 years after his abdication - by the Italian journalist Giuseppe Baretti in the book "The Italian Library".
Marie Antoinette: "If they don't have bread, let them eat cake!"
More specifically, brioches. For the first time, the phrase “Let them eat cakes” (Qu “ils mangent de la brioche) appeared in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s autobiography “Confession”, which was written in 1765 - when Antoinette was still a child and lived in Austria, and before the French Revolution it remained another 20 years.
But even at Rousseau this phrase was uttered by a young French princess, whom popular rumor and some historians later identified with Marie Antoinette.
Julius Caesar: "And you, Brutus?"
The Latin expression "Et tu, Brute?" became winged after Julius Caesar was killed by his own friend - Mark Junius Brutus.
This phrase is used in cases where the speaker believes that someone he trusted turned out to be a traitor.
In March 44 B.C. conspirators led by Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus really killed Caesar. According to one legend, Caesar tried to resist the killers, but when he saw his friend among them, he was so shocked that he only said: “And you, Brutus?” And died.
According to various contemporary sources, he either died without saying a word, or said in Greek: "And you, my child." Another version says that he said in Latin: “And you, Brutus, my son!” (Latin Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi!) " Julius Caesar".
Sherlock Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Watson!"
Believe it or not, the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes never said that. At least not with Conan Doyle. Despite this, separately - "elementary" and "my dear Watson" - these phrases sounded.
And indeed they were written, but in another novel written by Wodehouse, Psmith the Journalist, in which there is such a dialogue:
“Right,” said Billy Windsor. - Certainly".
“Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” muttered Psmith.
Winston Churchill: "Rum, whipping and sodomy are the only traditions of the Royal Navy."
This quote is usually attributed to the sharp-tongued Winston Churchill, who himself admitted that he was very sorry that he did not say this phrase. Its real author is his assistant, Sir Anthony Montag-Brown.
And yet she turns!- the expression is used when they insist on their statement, in which the listeners do not believe.
It is believed that these words were spoken by an Italian astronomer and physicist (1564-1642) before the court of the Inquisition - Eppur si muove! (And yet it spins!, Italian.). Galileo argued that the earth revolves around the sun. According to church canons at that time, it was believed that the sun revolves around the earth.
Serov V.V. in the book "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Winged Words and Expressions", 2003, he writes that there is no evidence that these words belong to Galileo, and are not the fruit of fiction - "The primary source of this legend is the message of the French writer of the 18th century. Abbé Augustin Simon Trael (1717- 1794) in the book “Literary strife”, published in Paris in 1761. At the same time, the author of this message himself speaks very carefully: “they assure that Galileo, already released, tormented by remorse, once nevertheless said, stamping his foot: “And yet it spins!”, referring to the Earth.
Later, the German poet and playwright Karl Gutzkow (1811 - 1878) put these words into the mouth of Uriel Acosta, the hero of his tragedy "Uriel Acosta" (act. 4, fig. 11). This play was often staged in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which contributed to the spread of this expression in Russian society.
The prototype of the hero of this tragedy is Uriel Acosta (c. 1585-1640), a Dutch freethinker of Jewish origin. For speaking out against the dogmas of Judaism, against the belief in the afterlife, he was persecuted by the Orthodox. Committed suicide."
Examples
(1883 - 1923)
"The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik" (1923, translated by P.G. Bogatyrev (1893 - 1971)), part 2, ch. 2. Schweik was unreasonably suspected of desertion:
The sergeant-major looked affably at Schweik. He answered calmly and with dignity:
Still, I'm going to Budejovice.
It sounded stronger than " and yet it spins!"because Galileo, no doubt, uttered his phrase in a state of intense passion."
(1860 - 1904)
"Modern Prayers" (1883): "Urania, the Museum of Astronomy (the prayer looks around timidly, embarrassed and quiet): - And yet she turns!(Loudly): Couldn't the planets and comets be taxed? Explore and try! You get a percentage. Voice from the public: And yet she doesn't move!"
The phrase “and yet it spins” expresses an absolute and unshakable confidence in the truthfulness and fidelity of one’s words or actions. It is pronounced in a situation where one is forced to renounce one's position and agree with the opponent's opinion - there is simply no other possibility.
It doesn't even matter what made the person do it. There are many methods - blackmail, moral pressure, threats, etc. Another important thing is that in the soul a person remains with his own opinion, and the phrase he uttered “and yet it turns” only confirms to those around him his firm belief that he is right.
The origin of the phraseologism "But still it spins"
The origin of the winged saying "but it still spins" is associated with the name of the famous Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Allegedly, he uttered this phrase immediately after the verdict was passed right before the court of the Inquisition, although before that he publicly and publicly admitted his scientific position that the Earth revolves around the Sun, erroneous, and not vice versa, as was previously thought, and renounced it. Of course, it all looks very impressive, but there is no evidence that it actually happened, and many believe that this is just a beautiful legend and nothing more.
Galileo Galilei and his conflicts with the church
In 1613, the book Letters on Sunspots was published, where Galileo openly supported Copernicus. For this, the church brethren accused Galileo of heresy, and on February 25, 1615, a case was opened against him. A year later, on February 24, 1616, he appeared before the Inquisition. The expert commission decided to recognize the teachings of Copernicus and heliocentrism as heresy.
“To assert that the Sun stands motionless in the center of the world is an absurd opinion, false from a philosophical point of view and formally heretical, since it directly contradicts Holy Scripture.
To assert that the Earth is not at the center of the world, that it does not remain motionless and even has a daily rotation, is an opinion that is just as absurd, false from a philosophical point of view and sinful from a religious point of view.
Galileo escaped with a slight fright, was warned and released.
The reason for the retrial was the book of Galileo "Dialogue on the two main systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernican", published in 1632. This time, Galileo went to the trick, writing in the preface of the book that its purpose was to criticize the theory of Copernicus, and an incomplete and softened version was submitted for censorship, which passed the censorship. But after the publication of the book, it turned out that no conclusions were made in the text of the book, but everything points to the correctness of the heliocentric system, where the Earth revolves around the Sun.
The Church could not pass by such blatant impudence on the part of the scientist, and in 1633 Galileo again had to appear before the inquisitors and justify himself before the court. This time everything was much more serious and he had to publicly repent and renounce his position, recognizing them as erroneous. But after the verdict was passed, he uttered the famous phrase: "Eppur si muove" - "But still it spins."
Galileo was found guilty, but not as a heretic, otherwise he would have been burned at the stake, but "strongly suspected of heresy", which provided for imprisonment, the term of which was to be set by the Pope himself, who treated Galileo loyally and allowed him to serve his sentence for Villa Medici. Then he was transferred to the palace of a friend of Galileo, Archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini, and from there to Arcetri, where he lived until the end of his days under the vigilant gaze of the Inquisition.
By order of the Pope, Galileo was buried in Arcetri without honors in an ordinary grave without a monument. Only in 1737 was the burial place transferred to his homeland in Florence, to the ancestral basilica of Santa Croce next to the burial of Michelangelo.
On October 31, 1992, Galileo Galilei was rehabilitated by Pope John Paul II, who recognized the mistake made by the Inquisition back in 1633.
“And yet it spins” - a true story or a fairy tale
So, it remains only to find out the veracity of the story, which many treat with great skepticism.
The fact that Galileo's views after the abdication did not change at all is evidenced by both his correspondence with friends and the biography of Galileo written by his student, the Italian physicist and mathematician Vincenzo Viviani (1622-1703) in 1655-1656. Despite this, there was no mention of the pronunciation of the phrase “but still it spins” in these sources, just as they were not in the court record.
The first printed source that spoke of the famous phrase allegedly said by Galileo was the book "The Italian Library", written by the Italian publicist and literary critic Giuseppe Marco Antonio Baretti (1719-1789) more than 100 years after the death of Galileo in 1757 . Where this became known to Baretti is unknown. But this fact became widely known in 1761 after the translation of Baretti's book into French.
“As soon as Galileo was set free, he raised his eyes to the sky, then lowered them to the ground, took a step and said thoughtfully:“ Eppur si muove».
So, in particular, this is mentioned in the book “Literary feuds” by the French writer Simon Trell (1717-1794), published in the same 1761, where the author speaks very carefully about this:
“They assure that Galileo, already released, tormented by remorse, once nevertheless said, stamping his foot:“ And yet she turns!”, referring to the Earth.
Some researchers of the life of Galileo Galilei, based on his character, impatient when he is rebuked and prone to passionate irreconcilable disputes, believe that such a situation in which Galileo, after the abdication, nevertheless said the phrase “but still it spins”, is quite possible. But with a greater degree of probability, it can be argued that if it was heard, it was not at all in the courtroom, but most likely a little later, for example, on the way to the place of detention or in the house of his friend Archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini, with whom he communicated most of all after court. If the common sense of the scientist would not triumph over his pride, then Galilee would burn at the stake of the Inquisition with a blue flame. But all this is just speculation, based on the characteristics of the character of the scientist and nothing more.
Another riddle associated with the phrase “but it still spins” and told by the Italian mathematician and researcher of all the written works of Galileo lies in a painting supposedly by the famous Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo or one of his students. On the canvas, dated 1643 - 1645, Galileo was depicted sitting in prison. The painting, which is in a private collection in Belgium, was given for restoration in 1911, during which it turned out that on the part of the canvas, hidden by a wide frame, there was an image of the Earth revolving around the Sun and the inscription “Eppus si muove” - “But still she's spinning." A modern researcher of the biography and scientific heritage of Galileo, John Heilbron, suggested that the customer of this canvas is Ottavio Piccolomini, the brother of Galileo's closest friend Ascanio Piccolomini, who is credited with the authorship of the expression "And yet it turns", which later became winged.
In Russia, the expression “But nevertheless it spins” became famous and popular thanks to the tragedy of the German writer and playwright Karl Gutskov (1811-1878) “Uriel Acosta” (1847), in the mouth of the protagonist of which the author put this phrase . The hero of this work was the real-life Dutch philosopher of Jewish origin Uriel Acosta (1585-1640), by the way, who lived at the same time as Galileo. Uriel in his writings questioned the coincidence of real life with the dogmas of Judaism, for which, like Galileo, he was condemned by the ministers of the synagogue and declared a heretic. Unable to bear the loneliness, he renounced his ideas, came into conflict with himself and eventually shot himself.
The book "Uriel Acosta" was translated into Russian more than once, and performances were often staged on it at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. This served to popularize the expression "And yet it spins", meaning complete confidence in one's words or actions and which has found a worthy place in the phraseology of the Russian language.
Everyone is probably already aware of this misconception, but still, let's go in order. The first person who made a serious contribution to the school textbook of astronomy was Nicolaus Copernicus. He lived in the 16th century, often looked at the sky and once realized that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He died a natural death at the age of 70, because he did not shout in the squares: “The earth is spinning, boys!” - and quietly deduced formulas incomprehensible to anyone in a notebook.
But the poet and mystic Giordano Bruno, who was next, was just burned. From the works of Copernicus, he only understood that the Earth is a small planet, of which there are many in the Universe, and this idea fit well into the religious doctrine he invented. In 1584, Bruno began to tour the cities preaching, and he was burned for heresy after 16 years.
Galileo was third.
The young Florentine Galileo Galilei, who studied at the University of Pisa, attracted the attention of professors not only with clever reasoning, but also with original inventions. Alas, the gifted student was expelled from the third year - his father did not have money for his studies. But the young man found a patron, the rich Marquis Guidobaldo del Moite, who was fond of science. He supported the 22-year-old Galileo. Thanks to the Marquis, a man entered the world who showed his genius in mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Even during his lifetime, he was compared with Archimedes. He was the first to claim that the universe is infinite.
Undoubtedly, such a gifted young man would have made his way in life without the Marquis. Galileo had a persistent character, knew how to defend his opinion and was not afraid to refute generally recognized authorities. In his talent, he was universal - he selflessly loved music, having inherited the ability from his father, a famous Florentine composer, proved to be a writer, poet, and mastered medical skills. But, having become acquainted with physics, mathematics and astronomy, he realized that his path was science.
His first treatise "On Motion" stirred up the scientific world of that time. In it, Galileo proved that the free fall of different bodies occurs with the same acceleration. And this acceleration does not depend on the weight of the falling body. His conclusion contradicted the ideas of Aristotelian, scholastic physics, but Galileo proved this experimentally. They say that he climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped cast-iron balls of different weights from the top floor ...
Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, but his childhood and youth were spent in Florence. Initially, he studied at the monastery of Vallombrosa, wanted to become a priest, studied the works of the church. But his father, who discovered great abilities in him, was against it and sent him to the University of Pisa to study medicine. It was at the university that Galileo, distinguished by extraordinary curiosity, began to attend lectures on geometry. Among teachers, he quickly gained a reputation as a debater who expressed his own opinion on various scientific issues.
In 1592, Galileo was offered the chair of mathematics at the University of Padun, where he remained for 18 years. This was the most productive period of his teaching and scientific activity. Then he discovered the law of inertia, according to which the body is at rest if no forces act on it. And it can move in a straight line and uniformly for as long as you like under the action of an external force, if it is not affected by other forces. Having learned that a magnifying tube appeared in Holland, with which you can observe the stars in the sky, he made a telescope with a 32-fold increase. He was one of the first to discover craters and mountain ranges on the Moon, and he saw spots on the Sun. He set out his observations in the book The Starry Messenger, which was published in 1610.
Observing the heavenly bodies, Galileo, like Copernicus, came to the heliocentric system, convinced that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and not vice versa. But this scientifically proven view was contrary to the dogmas of the church. Galileo was a Catholic, a believer, he was not going to give up the idea of God, but he could not but say the obvious, and the laws of physics confirmed his observations.
Galileo before the Holy Judgment Seat. Artist J.-N. Robert Fleury. 1847
This position of his angered the clergy. Galileo received a denunciation, where he was accused of heresy. In 1615 he traveled to Rome for acquittals before the Inquisition. The writings of Copernicus were already on the banned list at that time. Galileo had to be very careful about his scientific discoveries. He was warned and released. And in 1633, the famous trial took place, at which he had to publicly repent and renounce his "mistakes". According to legend, after the verdict, Galileo uttered the famous phrase: “But it still spins.”
Being a prisoner of the Inquisition, he lived alone for 8 years in Rome, then near Florence. He was forbidden to publish his work, to make experiments. But despite all the restrictions, prohibitions and the beginning of blindness, Galileo continued to work. He became completely blind in 1637 and died in captivity 5 years later. His ashes were transferred to Florence a hundred years later and buried next to Michelangelo.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared the decision of the Inquisition Court erroneous and rehabilitated Galileo.
Judging by the testimonies of friends and the letters of Galileo himself, his views after ostentatious repentance did not change, he was still convinced of the rotation of the Earth. However, there is no evidence that Galileo said this phrase. Biography of Galileo, written in 1655–1656 his student and follower Vincenzo Viviani, does not contain any mention of this phrase.
For the first time in print, these words were attributed to Galileo in 1757 (that is, 124 years after his abdication) by the Italian journalist Giuseppe Baretti in his book The Italian Library. The myth became widely known in 1761, after the translation of Baretti's book into French. In particular, in the book Querelles Litteraires(“Literary feuds”), published in Paris in 1761, Auguapin Simon Trell wrote: “they assure that Galileo, already released, tormented by remorse, once nevertheless said, stamping his foot: “But still she spinning!“, - referring to the Earth "
Or another option: it is thanks to the famous artist Murillo, who, after the death of Galileo, was commissioned for his portrait. The order was completed by one of Murillo's students in 1646. And only 250 years later, art historians found that the wide frame skillfully hides the “heretical” part of the picture, which shows astronomical sketches showing the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, and the famous words: “Eppus si muove!”. This is probably where the origins of the legend lie.
Later, the German poet and playwright Karl Gutzkow (1811 - 1878) put these words into the mouth of Uriel Acosta, the hero of his tragedy "Uriel Acosta" (act. 4, fig. 11). This play was often staged in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which contributed to the spread of this expression in Russian society.
The prototype of the hero of this tragedy is Uriel Acosta (c. 1585-1640), a Dutch freethinker of Jewish origin. For speaking out against the dogmas of Judaism, against belief in an afterlife, he was persecuted by the Orthodox. Committed suicide.
The phrase is a symbol of a person's confidence in his rightness, no matter how and whoever tries to shake this confidence.
Here are some more interesting questions and answers: for example, are you sure. Maybe you don't know or The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -
