In 1633, when Galileo was summoned for trial and questioned by the Inquisition in the presence of a notary, the following "dialogue" took place:
Question: Do you have anything to say?
Answer: Nothing.
Question: Do you now hold, or have you ever held, the idea that The Sun is at the center of the world, that the Earth is not at the center, and that it revolves and rotates? How long did you hold it?
Answer: Quite some time ago, before the Sacred Congregation of the Index made its decision and issued its order to me. I once believed that these ideas—the ideas of Ptolemy and Copernicus—ought to be viewed fairly. In nature, either could be true, and thus they could be discussed. But after the aforementioned decision, because Your Eminences had given assurances, all room for ambiguity was entirely removed. From then on, I firmly believed Ptolemy to be correct, believing the idea that the Earth stood still and The Sun moved to be truer, and I still believe so to this day. After I was informed of the order to abandon Copernican ideas, I never again held that view, nor had I held it before then. In any case, I stand before the Inquisition. Do as you please.
Question: Confess the truth about what you have been told, or you will be tortured.
Answer: I am here out of obedience. As I said before, I no longer held that view after the decision.
The affidavit ended here, signed by Galileo.
Consider Galileo's age at the time. He was nearly seventy.
And Galileo did not truly want to be tortured.
After Georgiana finished speaking with the elder, she went to Julian's office. He had not left work yet.
"Finished talking?" he asked absentmindedly as he read through the files