On February 8, 2024, on a day that will live in infamy, journalist Mark Stein was fined $1 million for daring to question climate science.™ of the Western elite. On June 22, 1633, a day that will become infamous, journalist Galileo Galilei was found guilty of heresy for daring to question the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe. He was sentenced to permanent house arrest.

You'll notice that I called Galileo, the greatest astronomer of all time, a “journalist.” And so was he, ah The author of the book that criticized him. He was an astronomer and mathematician, not a philosopher or theologian, and was the only scholar qualified to make judgments about the position of the Earth in the 1630s.

Science cannot advance unless outsiders are allowed to challenge those who are qualified. In 1905, a terminal Swiss patent clerk, Albert Einstein, challenged established physicists with his formula E=mc.2. Einstein was right, and we now have the only known major source of carbon-free energy: nuclear power.

John Donne, the famous poet – “Ask not for whom the bell tolls'' and “No man is an island'' John Donne – although he was also a qualified theologian In his 1611 book The Council of Ignatius, he explained why the Copernican interpretation was correct. Theory had to be suppressed. It was believed that hell was at the center of the earth. If it were believed that the earth is in heaven, illiterate peasants would stop believing in hell and God, and theologians would lose their jobs.

Dan was right. Western elites no longer believe in hell or God.

At Mark Stein's trial, lawyers representing the establishment called for him to be declared bankrupt “to prevent others from doing the same.” These attacks on climate scientists must stop. ”

Galileo's conviction marked the end of Renaissance Italian science. Stein's bankruptcy would end Western science.

Frank J. Tipler is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University. He is the author of two heretical books. physics of immortality and christian physicsboth by Doubleday.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.