[DarkSavant]

Copernicus had no problem publising his works, and Galileo didn't really bring much more to the table.

He was actually allowed to write a dialogue between the two conflicting systems of thought. Instead of being honest however, he made out his opponent in the dialogue to be a complete numbskull and actually threw in a few underhanded bashes at the Pope also. If you read up on Galileo you'll find he was a nasty contemptible human being, which was more the reason for the controversy than anything scientific.

On a side note, the Copernican system didn't make things much better that the older system, the new theory still needed 48 epicycles to get the planets to operate according to the data. It wasn't until Kepler that we actually had a solid understanding of planetary orbit.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Copernicus had no problem publising his works,"

It helps being dead. It also helps having someone write in the intro that the model wasn't physically true, but just a mathematical advance in predicting the motions of the planets.

[js1138]

He was actually allowed to write a dialogue between the two conflicting systems of thought.

On what basis was he placed under house arrest and shown the insrtuments of torture?