Of course many people of science believe today that Galileo was tortured by the church for his heresy... and that's not true either. More like pampered...
"Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, the source of controversy, previously had been read and approved by the Church's censors; and Pope Urban VIII, who presided over the trial, was Galileo's friend and admirer. Consider also: prior to the trial, Galileo stayed in the Tuscan embassy; during the trial, he was put up in a six-room apartment, complete with servant; following the trial, his "house arrest" consisted of being entertained at the palaces of the grand duke of Tuscany and the Archbishop of Siena. Galileo, apparently, was no ordinary heretic."
There's a number of coddled scientists today, collecting nice paychecks too, as long as their study is passed through the slightly more unofficial censorship of popularity. Nothing new under the Sun, even if it isn't the center of the Universe anymore.