Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 1 Galileo zThe Galileo myth –Shea proposes that the condemnation of Galileo “is perhaps the most dramatic incident in the long and varied history of the relations between science and religious faith” (L&N 114).

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 2 Galileo –Michael Sharratt states that “the notorious condemnation has made Galileo into an enduring symbol of scientific freedom and an embarrassing famous son to his own Church” (4). (Galileo, Decisive Innovator, Cambridge University Press, 1994)

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 3 Galileo –In October of 1993, a New York Times article on Galileo observed that “the dispute between the church and Galileo has long stood as one of history’s great emblems of conflict between reason and dogma, science and faith.”

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 4 Galileo –Richard Blackwell adds that “the Galileo case has... long provided many with an ideal arena for ideological posturing for and against both the scientific and religious world views.” (Richard Blackwell, “Could there be another Galileo case?” in The Cambridge Companion to Galileo, ed. Peter Machamer (Cambridge UP, 1998): 348.)

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 5 Galileo –The usual interpretation of the affair: a conflict between a dogmatic authority and a scientist’s demand for freedom of inquiry. Galileo was “a martyr for freedom of thought” (Shea in L&N 119). –Will explore this interpretation of the affair.

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 6 Galileo: Life zGalileo’s life (see sketch of Westman in L&N 98 ff) –Born in Pisa in 1564 –Family moved to Florence when Galileo was 10 –Studied medicine at Pisa; then turned to mathematics

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 7 Galileo: Life –Taught at the University of Pisa from 1589 to 1592 –Then took at position at the University of Padua from 1592 to 1610 –Took a mistress (Marina Gamba) and fathered three children

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 8 Galileo: Life –In formulated a revised version of the law of bodies in free fall. V  D vs. Aristotle’s V  W –In 1609 heard about the telescope.

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 9 Galileo: Life –Invented in the Netherlands in –Galileo manufactured one in his workshop. –Used it before the Venetian Senate to leverage a doubling of his salary.

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 10 Galileo –Then turned the telescope to the sky and made a series of momentous discoveries. yAre mountains & craters on the moon.

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 11 zGalileo’s drawings of the surface of the moon in The Starry Messenger, 1610

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 12 Galileo yAre 4 satellites revolving around Jupiter. Galileo named them the Medicean planets. äSignificance of this discovery for the Ptolemaic system: Not all celestial bodies are revolve around the earth.

Galileo: life ~ part I ~ slide 13 Galileo yNew stars. yThat the Milky Way is made up of a large number of stars. yEarthshine — light from the sun reflecting off of the earth onto the moon. äTo Part IIPart II