"Galileo was fully aware that if his wished to cash in then he had to get his priority claim in tout suite....Now he had hit the jackpot and needed to cash in f

"Galileo was fully aware that if his wished to cash in then he had to get his priority claim in tout suite....Now he had hit the jackpot and needed to cash in fast. He bunged his principal discoveries together in book form....his ego inflated by his recent successes....the sycophantic cheers of [Galileo's] high powered fan club....Beguiled by his silver tongued friend Barberini gave Galileo permission to write and publish a book....it is safe to say that he got stamped on for his hubris....Galileo was never the fearless defender of scientific truth or freedom of speech that his modern fan club like to present him as. He was an extremely egotistical social climber with an eye on the main chance, his own undying fame" I think it's safe to call this an attack on Galileo's reputation. It does match my fuzzy understanding that the story we got in elementary school was not that accurate, but on a personal level, it's pretty mean spirited. In particular, to modern ears, it's pretty jarring to hear a man convicted over scientific arguments described as being "stamped on for his hubris".