The Lynx and the Telescope, The Parallel Worlds of Federico Cesi and Galileo (Scientific and Learned Cultures and Their Institutions)

Set in the context of Counter-Reformation Rome, this book focuses on the twenty-year long relationship (1611-1630) between Galileo Galilei and Federico Cesi, the founder of the Academy of the Lynx-eyed. Contrary to the historiographical tradition, it demonstrates that the visions of Galileo and Cesi were not at all convergent. In the course of the events that led to the adoption of the anti-Copernican decree of 1616, Galileo realized that the Lynceans were not prepared to support his battle for freedom of thought. In addition to identifying the author of the anonymous denunciation of Galileo's Assayer, Paolo Galluzzi offers an original reconstruction of the dynamics which culminated in the Church's condemnation of the famous Tuscan scientist in 1633.This book was originally published in Italian as Libertà di filosofare in naturalibus: I mondi paralleli di Cesi e Galileo (Storia dell'Accademia dei Lincei, Studi 4). Rome: Scienze e Lettere, Editore Commerciale, 2014. The Lynx and the Telescope 2 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Figures 10 Preface 12 Abbreviations 16 Note to the Reader 17 “The Secret of the Eyeglass” 18 A ‘Piece of Nonsense’? 18 Winning Over the Minds at the Collegio Romano 28 Second Class Telescopes 37 Parallel Convergences? 42 The Encounter 42 Mutant Lynxes in the Academy’s Menagerie 46 Initiation Ceremonies 63 Fluid Heavens 78 Wavering Certainties 78 Tycho or Telesio? 82 The Revival of Martianus Capella 95 Coup de théâtre 101 Storm Clouds Gather 114 Building a Friendship 120 New Spectacles in the Heavens 120 Books, Frontispieces, Theatres, Mirrors and Ladders 137 Embarrassing Omissions 148 The ‘Lincean Telescope’ 159 The Copernican System versus Holy Scripture 170 The Spectre of Giordano Bruno 170 Celestial Animals 177 Questions of Character? 182 The League of Pigeons Launches the Attack 184 Images of Nature: Book or Theatre? 186 Prohibition ‘Is Also Done in Case of Doubt’ 186 The Natural Desire for Knowledge 204 Simulated versus True Religion 217 Miraculous Rains 227 Confronting the New Scenario 238 Cesi-Bellarmine: Attempts at Dialogue 238 ‘The Time Has Come to Grant Greater Freedom of Thought’ 250 Kepler Enters the Scene 256 Relaunching Copernicanism 260 Ariosto versus Tasso 260 The Copernican System Overthrown? 263 A Delicate Balance 278 The Ebb and Flow of Fortune 286 Tommaso Caccini Back on Stage? 303 Metamorphosis of a Conjuncture: from ‘Marvellous’ to ‘Unfavourable’ 317 Boating on the Lake 317 An Ambiguous Funeral 322 A Copernican Carriage 327 Calamitous Novelties 338 The Turncoat 344 Elephants and Mites 349 From the Heavens to the Bowels of the Earth 357 The Merging of the Two Projects 357 Up and Down the Ladder of Nature 364 Flowing Natures 371 Mother Earth 377 Botany for Metaphysicians? 387 The Fate of Cesi’s Fossil Wood Researches 397 The Immaculate Conception of the Barberini Bees 402 Honey as a Gift from the Heavens and the Earth 402 ‘This Work Has Been Done for the Sole Purpose of Pleasing Patrons’ 417 Plants as Compendium of Nature 426 Laying Out the Pages of the Book of Nature 426 Syntax, Painting, Theatre, Garden 432 A Galilean Syntaxis? 434 The Multiple Gaze of the Botanist 435 The Elusive Geometry of Plants 440 Glimmerings of Consciousness and Sexual Drives 448 The Bologna Stone Again 455 The Garden of Flavours 460 Food for the Mind 476 A Preformistic Conception? 479 Nature Was Not Created Once and for All 482 Names as Shadows of Things 485 Epilogue 494 ‘It Has Been Impossible to Persuade Him to Make a Will’ 494 Bibliography 502 Index of Names 529 Set in the context of Counter-Reformation Rome, this book focuses on the twenty-year long relationship (1611-1630) between Galileo Galilei and Federico Cesi, the founder of the Academy of the Lynx-eyed. Contrary to the historiographical tradition, it demonstrates that the visions of Galileo and Cesi were not at all convergent. In the course of the events that led to the adoption of the anti-Copernican decree of 1616, Galileo realized that the Lynceans were not prepared to support his battle for freedom of thought. In addition to identifying the author of the anonymous denunciation of Galileo's Assayer , Paolo Galluzzi offers an original reconstruction of the dynamics which culminated in the Church's condemnation of the famous Tuscan scientist in 1633. This book was originally published in Italian as Libertà di filosofare in naturalibus: I mondi paralleli di Cesi e Galileo (Storia dell'Accademia dei Lincei, Studi 4). Rome: Scienze e Lettere, Editore Commerciale, 2014 The Association Between Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) And Federico Cesi (1585-1630, Founder Of The Accademia Dei Lincei, Or Academy Of The Lynxes), And How Much Their Philosophies Agreed Or Were Different.