Galileo Galilei was found guilty of heresy by the Holy Office of the Inquisition for supporting the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
Notes on verification
Well-documented historical event corroborated by multiple independent sources. Minor nuance: technically charged with 'vehement suspicion of heresy' rather than heresy outright, but this doesn't materially change the claim's substance. [tier=silver indep_score=0.833 clusters=3 claim_tier=everyday] [kind-backfill 2026-09-15: kind=empirical eligibility=medium]
Sources
- The Ten Most Disturbing Scientific Discoveries (seed:science_and_space)
- https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/february-2016-400-years-ago-catholic-church-prohibited-copernicanism (corroboration)
- https://www.coopertoons.com/caricatures/galileo_and_bellarmine_trialofgalileo.html (corroboration)
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-12/galileo-is-accused-of-heresy (corroboration)