Galileo Galilei had a problem with data. The titan among Renaissance scientist-philosophers had exhorted his fellows to “measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not so,” and in following his own advice confirmed a new view of the universe—that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than vice versa. The Roman Inquisition condemned his facts as “false and contrary to Scripture,” but Galileo stood by his findings. He was placed under house arrest for much of his old age but entered immortality as a champion of truth.
