Open up the Google homepage and you will be greeted with this today.

Google is celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope, a major landmark in the history of the progress of Science. It had a profound impact far beyond the borders of Science and opened up the heavens to man. It was up to him to make it his own, through the pursuit of knowledge and rationality.

The story of Galileo’s subsequent travails are quite well-known and a damned shame! He was tried for heresy by the Roman Catholic Church and was imprisoned (later commuted to house arrest). He spent the rest of his life under house arrest and later went blind. It is an irony that one who broadened the vision of mankind went blind himself. Another in the long list of damages done by organized religion.

Here is a photo of two of Galileo’s first telescopes. It is now in the Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence.

And, as always, for a lighter side to things, here is a cartoon from Cartoonstock.

(© Cartoonstock)