(Reported by Jim Walker)  John Bell arranged a visit by his friend and confidante Signor Giovanni Belli, of the University of Padua, all the way from the 17th century.  Signor Belli appeared wearing the traditional scholar’s robe of the day.
       A Professor of Philosophy in the early 1600s, Belli noted that Galileo had been brought before the Inquisition for the second time.  As a philosopher, not an astronomer, Belli claimed to be neutral; thus, he was not eager to discuss the Galileo problem.  Indeed, he had never looked through Galileo’s “spyglass,” although there was no question that such devices allow people to see more things.  Belli remained a steadfast Aristotelian, holding that the earth was the stationary center of the universe.
       In the universities of the day, Astronomy was included in the Departments of Mathematics.  Astronomy was concerned with describing the motions of things in the heavens, not with their true natures.  The true nature of things was to be left to the Church for determination.
       Galileo was not happy just being a professor of astronomy.  He made his own spyglass, and left the authorities with the impression that he had invented the device.  He said he wanted to spend the rest of his life in the service of the Doge, the local ruler.  But he presented his new book, The Sidereal Messenger, to the Grand Duke of Padua, instead of the Doge.  As a result, he was given lifetime employment by the Grand Duke.
       With his new spyglass, Galileo discovered the phases of Venus.  He was wined and dined by Cardinals, which went to his head.  He claimed to have discovered sunspots.  He became a more dedicated Copernican, holding that the earth and planets revolved around the sun.
       At a dinner with Galileo, the Grand Duchess pointed out that Joshua ordering the sun to stand still was inconsistent with Copernicus.  Galileo said venturing into scriptural interpretation was risky: the common people were “rude and ignorant,” and the Bible was not to be interpreted literally.
       Signor Belli raised several arguments against the Copernican theory, the notion that the earth revolves around the sun.  If we’re moving through space, then why don’t we feel the motion?  If we fire a cannon ball to the east, then why doesn’t it travel faster than a ball fired to the west?  If we fire a cannon ball vertically, why does it fall directly downward as our position in space changes?  Finally, in the course of a year, why don’t the nearer stars shift their positions in relation to the farther stars, in much the way that a finger at arm’s length seems to shift its position as we alternately close one eye and then the other?  On the other hand, the westward motion of the tides offers a strong argument for Galileo and the Copernican theory.
       Galileo’s book, A Dialog of Two Systems, written in the Italian vernacular, instead of the usual scholarly Latin of the day, offered powerful arguments in favor of Copernicus.  Simplicio, the character in the dialog who advocated Aristotle, was soundly refuted.  Nevertheless, Galileo’s most telling opposition was from scholars – not the Church – even though the Church made the mistake of pronouncing on matters of fact versus faith.