Galileo Galilei : at the threshold of the scientific age / Wolfgang W. Osterhage

This new scientific biography explores the influences on, and of, Galileo’s exceptional work, thereby revealing novel connections with the worldviews of his age and beyond. Galileo Galilei's contribution to science is unquestionable. And his conflict with the church establishment of his time is no less famous. In this book, authored by a physicist and history scholar, Galileo's life and work are described against a backdrop of the prior scientific state of the art in his various fields of achievement. Particular emphasis is placed on Galileo's vision of the world in relation to historic and also future cosmological models. The impact of his discoveries and theories for the later development of physics and astronomy is a further focus of the narrative. Preface 6 Contents 7 1 Introduction 10 The Anthropic Principle 11 This Book 14 2 Time and Space (1564–1642) 16 The Time of Witch Hunts 16 The French Wars of Religion 17 The Spanish Armada 18 The Colonization of Canada 19 New York 19 The Thirty Years War 20 John Calvin 20 Michelangelo Buonarroti 20 Ivan the Terrible 21 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots 21 Elizabeth I 21 William Shakespeare 22 Miguel Cervantes Saavedra 22 The Counter-Reformation 22 The Ottoman Wars 23 Giordano Bruno 23 Italy 23 3 Early Years (1564–1588) 25 Archimedes 25 Aristotle 26 Isaac Newton 27 From Pisa to Florence and Back 27 La Bilancetta 30 4 Pisa—Gravitational Experiments (1589–1592) 34 ZARM 34 Eoetvoes and Others 34 The Nature of Force 35 Newton and Cavendish 36 At the University of Pisa 37 Criticism of Aristotle 40 Inertia and the Galilean Principle of Relativity 42 De Motu 43 5 Padua—Important Steps in Astronomy (1592–1610) 46 Cosmologies 46 Telescopes 47 Looking at Stars 48 Galileo in Padua 49 Inventions 50 Scientific Instruments 50 The Galilean Telescope 51 The Sidereal Messenger 53 The Moon 54 Fixed Stars and Milky Way 55 Jupiter’s Satellites 55 6 Florence—Discoveries and Conflicts (1610–1623) 57 Venus 57 Renaissance Florence 58 Sun Spots 60 Towards Conflict 62 Il Saggiatore 67 Intermediate Assessment 71 7 Cosmological Excursions 73 Anaximander 74 Aristarch 79 Eratosthenes 80 Ptolemy 80 Copernicus 85 Tycho Brahe 90 Galileo 91 Kepler 91 Newton 98 Einstein 102 Hawking 106 8 Florence Revisited—Dialogo and Its Consequences (1624–1633) 111 Saint-Malo 111 Back to Florence 111 The Dialogo 114 Aristotle 115 Time 117 Impact 120 Inquisition 121 The Index 123 Galileo 123 9 Final Years (1633–1642) 127 Energy or its Difficulty in an Enlightened Age 127 Seclusion 128 Discorsi 130 Last Efforts 133 10 Conclusions 136 Time and Space Revisited 136 René Descartes 137 Galileo’s Tangible Scientific Achievements 140 Historical Impact 143 11 Time Line 147 Introduction 147 References 151 Index of Persons 152 Subject Index 156 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 1-6 Time and Space (1564–1642) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 7-15 Early Years (1564–1588) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 17-25 Pisa—Gravitational Experiments (1589–1592) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 27-38 Padua—Important Steps in Astronomy (1592–1610) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 39-49 Florence—Discoveries and Conflicts (1610–1623) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 51-66 Cosmological Excursions (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 67-104 Florence Revisited—Dialogo and Its Consequences (1624–1633) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 105-120 Final Years (1633–1642) (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 121-129 Conclusions (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 131-141 Time Line (Wolfgang W. Osterhage)....Pages 143-146 Back Matter ....Pages 147-156 This new scientific biography of Galileo explores the influences on, and of, his exceptional work, thereby revealing novel connections with the worldviews of his age and beyond. Galileo Galilei's contribution to science is unquestionable. And his conflict with the church establishment of his time is no less famous. In this book, authored by a physicist and history scholar, Galileo's life and work are described against a backdrop of the prior scientific state of the art in his various fields of achievement. Particular emphasis is placed on Galileo's vision of the world in relation to historic and also future cosmological models. The impact of his discoveries and theories for the later development of physics and astronomy is a further focus of the narrative.