The "Copernican Revolution" is named for Nicolaus Copernicus, whose Commentariolus, written before 1514, was the first explicit presentation of the heliocentric model in Renaissance scholarship.The idea of heliocentrism is much older; it can be traced to Aristarchus of Samos, a Hellenistic author writing in the 3rd century BC, who may in turn have been drawing on even …

Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (/ ˌ ɡ æ l ɪ ˈ l eɪ. oʊ ˌ ɡ æ l ɪ ˈ l eɪ. i ˌ / GAL-ih-LAY-oh GAL-ih-LAY-ee, Italian: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath, from the city of Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence.

He was tried, convicted, and forced to retract his published belief in heliocentrism. Centuries later, the Catholic church had lost interest in subjecting natural philosophy to dogma. The relation of the now separate Church of England to evolution was complicated by the lack of the centralised authority of a Pope.