Galileo Galilei was born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy, and was one of the most influential scientists of the entire Renaissance.

He defended Copernicus' heliocentric model, which stated that the Earth orbits the Sun.

His discoveries clashed head-on with the geocentric view of the Church, which held that the Earth was the center of the universe.

In 1616, the Catholic Church forbade the teaching of heliocentrism and in 1633 the Inquisition accused Galileo of being a heretic.

He was forced to recant his ideas and spent the rest of his life under house arrest, but he was not excommunicated as is popularly believed.

Despite his conviction, Galileo continued to work until his death in 1642. He wrote works that laid the foundations of modern physics.

The Church continued to defend geocentrism until the first dissenting voices within the clergy were raised in the 18th century.

In 1822, the Church allowed the teaching of heliocentrism as a theory and Galileo's books were excluded from the Index of Forbidden Books.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II officially acknowledged the Church's error in condemning Galileo.

Today, Galileo is considered a pioneer of science and his conflict with the Church is seen as a symbol of the struggle between reason and dogma.