Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei (aka, Galileo) was an authentic sixteenth century genius. He saw through the scientific fallacies of his times and greatly advanced man’s understanding of his world and of the solar system in which his world existed. In recognition of his brilliance and the implications of his discoveries, the powers that be debated whether or not to burn him at the stake. Fortunately for Galileo, he had ‘friends in high places,’ and his life was spared. Of course, he was placed under house arrest and his scientific career was effectively terminated. In modern parlance, Galileo was simply too clever for his own good.
This man had the audacity to abandon the established views of the cosmos and look to the skies without prejudice or preconceptions. He acquired a relatively newly developed instrument, the telescope, and used it to investigate a theory convincingly argued by a Polish scientist, Mikolaj Kopernik (aka, Nicolaus Copernicus), that the sun was the center of the solar system. Copernicus was not the first to advance the theory that the Earth rotated around the sun, rather than the widely accepted view that the sun rotated around the Earth, but his arguments and evidence for a heliocentric [sun-centered] system were compelling. Copernicus had the wisdom to keep his views private until his death, at which point he was no longer subject to retribution from the Church. Catholic Church leaders had insisted for centuries that the Bible established that the Earth was the center of the universe. They insisted that the Earth was God’s central creation, and that the sun and the moon rotated around the Earth were confirmed by their interpretation of statements in the Bible. Nonconforming views were heresy, and heresy warranted execution.
Galileo certainly knew that he was risking his freedom and, possibly, his life when he convinced himself of the validity of the Copernican view of the universe. One of his contemporaries, Giordano Bruno, had been tried by the Roman Inquisition, imprisoned, and burnt at the stake for insisting, amongst many other unpopular claims, that his scientific inquiries indicated that the Earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun rotating around the Earth. Documents that have survived from the seven years of trials that he suffered through establish that he was executed for his opinions, rather than for his deeds.
Although Galileo was a contemporary of Bruno, he believed he could publish his revolutionary views and avoid punishment for several reasons. He had good relations with the Pope and was not at all uncompromising or unaccommodating, character traits that appear to have contributed to Bruno’s fate. In fact, Galileo included a disclaimer in his work, indicating that he and all good Catholic’s accepted the dogma of the Church but, nonetheless, thought that the scientifically-inclined would be interested in his (Galileo’s) astronomical observations and the Copernican views with which these observations were consistent. The disclaimer was laughable, his ‘guilt’ was undeniable, but his friendship with Church officials saved his life. Then, as now, ‘Justice’ was not blind.
Many scientists have faced resistance from governing bodies similar to that faced by Galileo. That we have politicians at all government levels that insist that all vaccines are dangerous, that pasteurization to safeguard our food supply is part of a wide conspiracy, that global warming is not occurring, that the Earth and everything on it was created in six days just a little over four thousand years ago, etc., etc. is mind-boggling. What is so threatening about scientific discoveries that much of the general public and their political leaders not only dismiss their validity but fight against their dissemination?
When thousands of workers in Panama died from Yellow fever during the construction of the Panama Canal, congressional hearings were held to look into the construction problems and delays. Scientists working at the site were criticized by many of the esteemed, but scientifically ignorant, Congressmen for wasting their time studying mosquitoes. The Congressmen and the general public “knew” that noxious agents in the ground were being lofted into the air by the digging, and the most effective way to rid the air of this contamination was to shoot cannon balls into the mists. The scientists had the wisdom to listen to this drivel and bite their tongues. They returned to Panama, identified the mosquitoes responsible for the dissemination of Yellow fever, and instituted measures to contain the spread of this lethal disease.
More recently we have experienced the embarrassing excoriation of Dr. Anthony Fauci by medically-ignorant congressmen and congresswomen, including the ever bombastic but intellectually-neutered Marjorie Taylor Greene, during Congressional hearings meant to absolve the former President of his criminal negligence during the Covid epidemic. Rather than being commended for deftly managing a major, governmental, health agency during a national health crisis, in contrast to a Chief Executive who disseminated misinformation (“inject bleach,” “shine bright lights,””flu shots will help”) faster than it could be retracted, Fauci was demonized by several committee members. His crime was relying on medical facts, rather than wishful thinking and popular myths.
Mr. Trump promises to institute measures, if he is re-elected, that will enable him to replace people like Dr. Fauci with men and women who will echo his own sentiments, rather than challenge his prejudices. The former President and his advisers have provided a detailed road map for the steps he and his lieutenants will take to re-organize the government as soon as he returns to power. This plan has been entitled “Project 2025” (rather than the alternative title of “My Struggle”), and it is getting considerable support from a wide variety of voters who feel their interests have not been adequately addressed by our government as it is currently constituted.
The former President is getting support from tens of millions of Americans. Dr. Fauci and his family and hundreds of nonconforming government workers are getting death threats. Yes, Galileo, not much has changed since you faced a government that demanded loyalty over logic and that feared any idea that might undermine its authority.
Dr. Lechtenberg is an Easton resident who graduated from Tufts University and Tufts Medical School in Massachusetts and subsequently trained at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan. He worked as a neurologist at several New York Hospitals, including Kings County and The Long Island College Hospital, while maintaining a private practice, teaching at SUNY Downstate Medical School, and publishing 15 books on a variety of medical topics. He worked in drug development in the U.S., as well as in England, Germany, and France.
