Raffaello Caverni (1837 - 1900) and the Society for the progress of the sciences: an independent priest criticized by the lay scientists

TL;DR

Raffaello Caverni, a Catholic priest and independent thinker, challenged the mythologization of Galileo and faced censorship from the Italian scientific community, impacting the historical debate on scientific progress.

Contribution

This paper highlights Caverni's role as an independent critic of established scientific narratives and examines his conflict with the Italian scientific establishment.

Findings

Caverni opposed the mythicization of Galileo.

His work was censured and excluded from debate for decades.

He challenged the dominant scientific narratives of his time.

Abstract

Raffaello Caverni, a Catholic priest, was a truly lay and anti-establishment intellectual in his opinions both on Darwin and on Galileo. He opposed the mythicization of Galileo, as a rule in Italy after the unification, even though he considered Galileo a great scientist. As a consequence the scientific community of that time, under the influence of Antonio Favaro, bitterly censured his work Storia del Metodo Sperimentale in Italia.In this way, Caverni's book was removed from the scientific debate in Italy for at least forty years.