And Yet, It Moves

T

his is the celebrated Galileo, who was it in the inquisition for six years, and put to the torture, for saying, that the earth moved. The moment he was set at liberty, he looked up to the sky and down to the ground, and, stamping with his foot, in a contemplative mood, said, Eppur si move; that is, still it moves, meaning the earth.—Giuseppe Baretti

[From The Italian Library: Containing an Account of the Lives and Works of the Most Valuable Authors of Italy (A. Millar, London, 1757), p. 52. This is the earliest surviving account of this incident, published 115 years after Galileo’s death. It’s not likely to be true, but—happy Galileo’s birthday anyway.]