Nature, Experiment, and the Sciences : Essays on Galileo and the History of Science in Honour of Stillman Drake

This collection of essays is a tribute to Stillman Drake by some of his friends and colleagues, and by others on whom his work has had a formative influence. It is difficult to know him without succumbing to his combination of discipline and enthusiasm, even in fields remote from Renaissance physics and natural philosophy; and so he should not be surprised in this volume to see emphases and methods congenial to him, even on topics as remote as Darwin or the chemical revolution. Therein lies whatever unity the discerning reader may find in this book, beyond the natural focus and coherence of the largest section, on Galileo, and the final section on Drake's collection of books, a major and now accessible resource for research in the field that he has made his own. We have chosen, as the occasion for presenting the volume to Stillman Drake, Galileo's birthday; Galileo has had more than one birthday party in Toronto since Drake came to the University of Toronto. As for the title, it reflects a shared conviction that experiment is the key to science; it is what scientists do. Drake has already asserted that emphasis in the title of his magisterial Galileo at Work, and we echo it here. Those who have had the privilege and pleasure of working and arguing with Stillman over the years know his tenacity, penetration, and vigour. They also know his generosity and humility. We owe him much. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Dating and Significance of Galileo’s Pisan Manuscripts....Pages 3-50 Galileo Galilei: An Astronomer at Work....Pages 51-76 Galileo’s Theorem of Equivalence: The Missing Keystone of His Theory of Motion....Pages 77-103 Was Galileo a Metaphysicist?....Pages 105-121 Drake Against the Philosophers....Pages 123-144 Front Matter....Pages 145-145 Alhazen’s Debt to Ptolemy’s Optics ....Pages 147-164 Regiomontanus on the Critical Problems of Astronomy....Pages 165-195 Front Matter....Pages 197-197 G. D. Cassini and the Number of the Planets: An Example of Seventeenth-Century Astro-Numerological Patronage....Pages 199-205 Lavoisier: Language, Instruments, and the Chemical Revolution....Pages 207-223 The Inductive Sciences in Nineteenth-Century England....Pages 225-247 Darwin Studies at Work: A Re-Examination of Three Decisive Years (1835–37)....Pages 249-274 The Background to Heinrich Hertz’s Experiments in Electrodynamics....Pages 275-306 Science and History of Science....Pages 307-317 Front Matter....Pages 319-319 The Stillman Drake Galileo Collection....Pages 321-337 Back Matter....Pages 339-355