After publishing his findings, Galileo was contacted by Pope

Paul V, who demanded he retract his heretical ideas. Fearing

for his life, he did so. But a few years later, unhappy that so

important a truth should remain suppressed, he published a

brilliantly composed dialogue in which he defended and

supported the Copernican theory. Again, under threat of torture,

he was forced to "abjure, curse, and detest" the absurd view

that the earth moves around the sun. He was then put under

house-arrest so that he could be watched and prevented from

causing any further trouble -- and remained there till his death.