Galileo's Sentence Restated

November 2001 page 83

In my letter in the August 2001 issue of Physics Today (page 74), I stated that Galileo was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church. I was mistaken. He was never excommunicated, but was summoned to Rome on suspicion of heresy, forced to abjure, and sentenced to life in prison; that sentence was later commuted to house arrest.

Matthew Housley