Mario Livio: GALILEO AND THE SCIENCE DENIERS.
Dr. Livio is a prolific scientist and compelling author, and it was a treat to interview him for the latest episode of the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE podcast. His newest book is a refreshing take on the scientific biography, not many of which are written by scientists. “Galileo and the Science Deniers” delves into the controversy of Galileo’s discoveries.
A story of ideology’s incompatibility with the idea that the Earth orbits the sun, it reads like a courtroom drama towards the end as Galileo is eventually tried for heresy. I found myself playing devil’s advocate throughout the interview, though ironically in this case that requires me to advocate for the church in general, and the pope in particular.
An aspect about Galileo’s life I didn’t fully appreciate before reading this book was his understanding of the steps involved in getting people to believe his theories. He went directly to the patrons funding scientists who disagreed with him, knowing that money speaks. Though he didn’t invent the telescope, he was able to cut off any arguments about applying its power to the heavens.
Galileo never stopped working, running experiments even on house arrest in the last eight years of his life, even writing a book that had to be smuggled out of the country in order to be published. Having been to his Italian villa, I can’t help but think he got off easy considering that some scientists throughout history have been tortured and imprisoned.
As for the main theme of the book, I find the term “denier” to be charged, its use is indelibly connected to the Holocaust. I’ve talked about this issue before, most recently in a book review in Physics Today.
Surely there’s a difference between a denier and a skeptic. After all, wasn’t Einstein a big bang denier? Galileo himself spent his career disproving other people’s scientific claims, including Aristotle’s. Are denial and dissent different? I can believe in climate change but also question whether models are designed well.
Mario and I agree that questioning conclusions is an important part of science, in fact that is at the very heart of the scientific method. He draws a line where that turns into a danger to others. So maybe evolution is still being debated (150 years later!), but is that hurting anyone? With climate change, vaccinations, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat to human health is clear — and on a global scale. Mario advocates a “Believe in Science!” attitude, and that’s something we can agree on.
I would love to see more science majors learning about the controversies that arose when the discoveries they take for granted were new and still being debated by scientists and laymen alike. I also think non-science majors should learn the basics of the scientific method and how to think critically about science. My former colleague Dr. Sally Ride taught a physics class for non-majors that she dubbed “Physics for Poets.” How wonderful would it be if all students got a quick background in the curious workings of the natural world?
Mario continued his work on Galileo by researching the origin of his motto “And Yet It Moves” and writing an article for Scientific American.
Some resources and links:
Mario’s piece on “And yet it moves!”: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/did-galileo-truly-say-and-yet-it-moves-a-modern-detective-story/
Buy Mario Livio’s books here:
Galileo and the Science Deniers: https://amzn.to/3c46msb
Why? What Makes Us Curious: https://amzn.to/3dhPSNi
Brilliant Blunders: https://amzn.to/2Wq1O8S
Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi: https://amzn.to/2SAVuu1
Watch Livio’s TEDxMidAtlantic talk, The Case for Curiosity.
Watch his interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
Find Mario Livio on the web: www.mario-livio.com and Twitter: @Mario_Livio
Find Brian Keating on Twitter @DrBrianKeating
Please subscribe, rate, and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes for a chance to win a copy of Livio’s latest book: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i…
Mario Livio is a retired astrophysicist from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the Hubble Space Telescope. He is a Fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His publishing credits are impressive, both in peer-reviewed scientific journals and popular science articles. He is also Science Advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, collaborating on the world’s first VR music experience, The Hubble Cantata.
