GALILEO

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 210, 19 August 1927, Page 7

GALILEO

AND THE DISCOVERY br THE UNIVERSE W.E.A. LECTURE T el<& Mr. A. Ernest Mauder, of Victoria University College, addressed a large and interested audience in the Wesley Hall, Hastings, last night, r>n “Galileo and the Discovery of the Universe.”

Mr. H. R, French presided. The lecturer, in the course of an eloquent address, spoke of some phases in the career of Galileo, who was born at Pisa in 1564 and died in 1612, the year Isaac Newton was born. At the University of Pisa he contested the teachings of Aristotle, and after much opposition proved that bodies, irrespective of weight and given the same air resistance, travelled at the same speed towards the earth. He perfected the telescope in use in Holland, and he L used it to explore the heavens with wonderful results. He taught- that the earth. ' instead of being the centre, was the merest speck in the universe, and that it revolved round the sun. This raised a storm about his ears, bringing him into conflict with the Catholic Church, and in the course of time he was arraigned before the inquisition, before which he recanted, either as the remit ot torture or because of the fear of it. At the conclusion of the lecture, which brought the session to a close, Mr. Mander was accorded a hearty vote ot thanks.