And yet it moves

The Italian phrase E pur si muove or Eppur si muove means But it does move.

Legend has it that the famous astronomer, philosopher and physicist Galileo Galilei muttered this phrase quietly under his breath, after being forced to recant, in front of the Inquisition, his belief that the earth moved around the sun.

At that time, the dominant view among theologians in the Catholic Church was that the Earth is stationary, indeed was the center of the universe. Any challenge to that view was considered to be heresy, a crime potentially punishable by death. For his views, Galileo was put under house arrest until his death, nine years after the trial.

It is generally believed that Galileo did not say this at his trial. If right person had overheard it, he would almost certainly been executed. However, there is evidence that he said it later to friends. The famous line was long thought to have been an 18th century invention, but then it was found on a Spanish painting of Galileo that dates to around 1640. This means that the line was being attributed to Galileo while he was still alive, or just after his death in 1642.

Galileo was among the first astronomers who made accurate measurements of objects in our Solar system. These measurements, along with the work of Nicolaus Copernicus and Johann Kepler, demonstrated that Earth was moving around the Sun, rather than the reverse. While Galileo suffered a temporary reverse, the discoveries of these several astronomers in the 16th and 17th centuries are considered to be important victories of the scientific method.

This quote was used in the television program the "The X-files" at the beginning of the episode "Tunguska." At the end of the shows starting credits normally the phrase "The Truth is Out There" is shown before the episode starts. In this episode E PUR SI MUOVE is shown instead.

It was also the title of an episode during the fifth season of the political drama, The West Wing.