The Catholic Church admitted its error in the Galileo case 359 years later.

1633 · 1992 · apart: 359 years

He was condemned in 1633; Pope John Paul II expressed regret in 1992.

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The event

• Galileo's telescopic discoveries1610 · Venice. In The Starry Messenger, Galileo Galilei described mountains on the Moon, countless new stars and four moons of Jupiter seen through his telescope. The observations became powerful evidence for the Copernican system.

17th century · 20th century

More amazing facts

• 1632 · 1635 Shah Jahan's throne reportedly cost twice as much as the Taj Mahal.
• 1632 Legend says the first Ottoman flyer was rewarded with a bag of gold — and then exiled.
• 1633 The Ottoman sultan Murad IV banned coffee on pain of death.
• 1633 · 1757 'And yet it moves!' first appeared in print in 1757, 115 years after Galileo's death.
• 1636 · 1703 Harvard is 67 years older than St Petersburg: the Massachusetts college was founded in 1636, and Peter the Great founded his city on the Neva in 1703.
• 1637 In 1637 a single tulip bulb could cost more than ten years of a skilled craftsman's wages.

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