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That “Wrong” Person Just Might be Right
Why we should listen to those with whom we disagree
When I hear someone say we need to “follow the science,” I wholeheartedly agree. But we also need to recognize that science is always evolving.
Albert Einstein called astronomer, physicist, and engineer Galileo Galilei the father of modern science and Stephen Hawking said he probably bears more of the responsibility for the birth of modern science than anybody else.
Yet on Feb. 13, 1633, Galileo arrived in Rome for trial, accused of defending the theory that the Earth revolved around the sun.
Galileo championed Copernican heliocentrism, the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus which positioned the sun at the center of the universe with Earth and other planets rotating around it. Some astronomers of the time as well as the Catholic Church disagreed.
Galileo was tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy,” and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
Science can take us places we don’t expect. What once seemed logical and clear can later be proven wrong.
As we follow the science, let’s remember that…
