Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo

by Galileo Galilei

Directing his polemics against the pedantry of his time, Galileo, as his own popularizer, addressed his writings to contemporary laymen. His support of Copernican cosmology, against the Church's strong opposition, his development of a telescope, and his unorthodox opinions as a philosopher of science were the central concerns of his career and the subjects of four of his most important writings. Drake's introductory essay place them in their biographical and historical context.

Genres: Science, History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Physics, Biography, Classics

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Galileo Galilei was a Tuscan (Italian) physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science." The motion of uniformly accelerated objects, taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses, was studied by Galileo as the subject of kinematics. His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, named the Galilean moons in his honour, and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, improving compass design.

Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime. The geocentric view had been dominant since the time of Aristotle, and the controversy engendered by Galileo's presentation of heliocentrism as proven fact resulted in the Catholic Church's prohibiting its advocacy as empirically proven fact, because it was not empirically proven at the time and was contrary to the literal meaning of Scripture. Galileo was eventually forced to recant his heliocentrism and spent the last years of his life under house arrest on orders of the Roman Inquisition.

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Galileo really missed his era - he wanted to be a blogger. The genius had such a loquacious side that even the editors of this edition excise several days of Galileo's moon diary since the avalanche of words offers no additional insights. Much of Galileo's insights are powerful arguments as he poularized new discoveries seen in the heavens. It is possible his incredible amount of verbiage made him too tempting and too open for attack from his powerful, clerical detractors. Galileo certainly knew how to "flame" in the media of his time.



One bit of his sagacity really struck me: " "Long experience has taught me this about the status of mankind with regard to matters requiring thought: the less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them, while on the other hand to know and understand a multitude of things renders men cautious in passing judgement upon anything new." (from 'The Assayer')



Here is his attack on the popular opinion, though he is rather being a jerk in how he says it: "If reasoning were like hauling I should agree that several reasoners would be worth more than one, just as several horses can haul more sacks of grain than one can. But reasoning is like racing and not like hauling, and a single Barbary steed can outrun a hundred dray horses."

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating collection of Gailileo's writings on his discovery of Jupiter's moons and his observation and speculations on the nature of sunspots, as well as his defense of the veracity of his observations in the face of heavy censure from the Church. Any amateur astronomer who remembers seeing Jupiter's moons for the first time through a telescope and witnessing the change in their configuration from night to night will get a thrill out of reading this first account and Galileo's extraordinary reasoning as to why they must be satellites of the planet Jupiter and why this confirms the heliocentric model. Galileo was an excellent rhetorician who also surprisingly had a sense of humor when dealing with the absurdity of his critics' claims. I thoroughly loved this book and recommend it to anyone even mildly interested in the history of astronomy.

[Muhamed Sewidan · Rating 3 out of 5]

الحقيقة كتاب ممل جدا

[Benjamin Martell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book about the beginnings of the idea of the scientific method. Its all translated from Italian. The author provides some historical context in the introduction sections of each of the 4 passages. Part 1 is about Galileo’s first time looking at the sky with a telescope and the ideas that he had as a result of those observations, which significantly expanded humanities ability to understand orbital dynamics and planet and star science. The second passage was several letters on sub spots back and forth where he Is arguing through letters about how sun spots were formed. His explanations are logical. The third one, he is starting to become more defensive about his findings and is frustrated by the many attempts to prevent him from doing his research because it conflicts with the church (the church believed that the earth was at the center of the universe and was not moving, basing this off the Bible). Galileo really hones in on why that’s contrary to the truth and makes good arguments defending science. Parallels could be made to modern science deniers. Finally the last letter seems to be one of Galileo’s last attempts at defending himself against all the nay sayers. Overall would recommend this book to people interested in the origins of modern science and science philosophy.

[Sonia Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me ages to get through, but was worth the slog. The translation was readable and skillful, and it's fascinating to read the discoveries that were controversial and groundbreaking in their day but are old hat now. Why make so much of mountains on the moon, for example, when everyone knows the craters come from asteroid impacts. Of course the moon is not smooth. But Galileo was the first person to see that through a telescope, the first person to posit that perhaps the moon, and by extension the planets, were more like earth. It's rather like reading a time capsule.

[Ayham · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب يحوي مجموعة من مراسلات العالم الايطالي واكتشافاته للبقع الشمسية ولأقمار المشتري ودوران الأرض حول الشمس، وعطفا على ماسبق، فهو ليس بسيرة ذاتية لجاليلو، على الرغم من أن الكاتب نوه قليلا الى بعض تفاصيل حياة العالم

[Sakina · Rating 2 out of 5]

الكثير من التكرار والحشو

[Zahra'a · Rating 4 out of 5]

من أروع ما قرأت هذا العام، أسقطت نجمة بسبب قصور الترجمة في بعض المقاطع، لكن عامةً الكتاب ممتع و مفيد في آن و الترجمة جيدة جداً.
سيعود هذا الكتاب إلى الرف و لن يخرج من مكتبتي 👍🏼

[Jeff]

Truly baller

[Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Galileo’s writing and argumentation is excellent. He cogently embodies the archetype of the modern day scientific method. He makes excellent deductions and very astutely examines theories and ideas dispassionately and will readily admit when he is wrong. I love how he points out the idiocy and fallacious reasonings of the powers that were at the time and some contemporary ad hominem or absurd critics.

[Rashaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science and Religion are two sides of the same coin. Neither of them are absolute and both are a means to make sense of the world. What's most extraordinary about Galileo's discoveries is how his celestial revelations necessitate Darkness. Our first modern scientist had to wait for the sun to descend deep into night before he could track the moon as she waxed and waned. And, without the blinding cloak of Religion, Galileo's ideas wouldn't have been so fantastic, so revolutionary. Darkness wrought his enlightenment, and in the Starry Messenger we discover nothing is ever as it seems: "In this way, one may learn that with all the certainty of sense evidence that the moon is not robed in a smooth and polished surface but is in fact rough and uneven, covered everywhere, just like the earth's surface, with huge prominences, deep valleys, and chasms." Our previous notions are not to be trusted, nor what we hear or see. Truth is proven only through methodical study. Not just discovery itself but the method of discovery advances with Galileo's nightly research.

Both scientist and poet, he describes our moon in such vivid and beautiful detail:

At conjunction the moon occupies a position between the sun and the earth; it is then illuminated by the sun's rays on the side which is turned away from the earth. The other hemisphere, which faces the earth, is covered with darkness; hence the moon does not illuminate the surface of the earth at all. Next, departing gradually from the sun, the moon comes to be lighted partly upon the side it turns toward us, and its whitish horns, still very thin, illuminate the earth with a faint light...Soon the splendor on the moon extends into a semi-circle, and our nights grow brighter; at length the entire visible face of the moon is irradiated by the sun's resplendent rays, and at full moon the whole surface of the earth shines in a flood of moonlight. Now the moon, waning, sends us her beams more weakly, and the earth is less strongly lighted; at length the moon returns to conjunction with the sun; and the black night covers the earth.

The moon's sway over Life on this blue orb of ours seems so logically obvious. Our seas answer to her in their tidal movement. The female cycle is determined by her phases. And, countless flora and fauna, vespertines, as they're called, depend not on the power of the sun but on the "resplendent rays" of our lunar satellite. When these points were raised in class, several of the students were rattled at the idea that our Moon makes Life possible. "Disturbing," they argued, many of them young women. "Doesn't seem right or sound correct," they continued to protest.

How can it be so easy for us to accept that the Sun gives life, yet impossible to concede that the Moon is just as essential? The only reasonable explanation is a deep-seated and latent mistrust of Feminine Power, which still permeates our young minds' psyche, even in the twenty-first century.

A defiant declaration, a nightly journal, a scientific archive, with a flash of poetry, a series of rudimentary sketches that angered the Church and threatened a life, Galileo's work shadows us everyday. His discoveries are in the back of the mind, truths that are uncovered only in the darkest and deadest of night, when the lights from afar shine brightest.

[Steven Yaskell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Men exchanged letters once for almost all detailed discussions on science matters far before the so-called formal "paper" was settled on as products of academy research. Some "letters" were two or more exchanges sometimes prompted by a third party posing as the "simplicius" (not a simpleton, per se, but more perhaps a layperson not familiar with the technical details of a discussion).

In this research grade production by Drake, we have access in English to first-source matter involving the Italian savant. In here is the total text to The Starry Messenger, which is his Plato-like world view of our relationship to outer space. In it of course are how divergent his paths were from the ancient learned ones such as Ptolemy, and how congruent with, for example, Copernicus. Also found are the letters to the Grand Duchess Christina (also in English) where the savant outlines his take on the relationship between science (natural philosophy) and religion. In his letters on sunspots, we have a lively three or more exchange between Mark Welser (a simplicius) arranging debates on this topic between Galileo and Christoph Scheiner, a Roman Catholic priest who was also a solar scientist "hiding like Appelles behind his shield."

[Charles Kristofek · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing how brazen present day evangelist hucksters claim the bible is scientifically accurate. Reading this book lays bare the fallacy of such claims. Galileo was required to tiptoe around theologians of his day as well as avoiding offense to past theocratic cosmic dogma (St. Augustine).
The bible's cosmology (Genesis) is based on Ancient Near East Cosmology (Mesopotamia) ~1800BC which pre-dated the old testament writing (1400-400BC).
Unfortunately, Galileo eventually succumbed to the ignorance and power of theocracy in his day.
But, fortunately we've all inherited the Galilean Philosophical method (aka the scientific method since the mid 1800s).

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was published letters and correspondence between Galileo and other associates. The letters were about his books and his discoveries which led him to be under house arrest. I was hoping for more science and explanation of his discoveries, but more it was banter and rhetoric. I was disappointed, but I enjoyed feeling like I was back in the renaissance and the time of some of the greatest minds of modern times.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more scientific sections (Starry messenger, Letters on sunspots, etc.) are great, but may bore those not able to get into the detail of his celestial discoveries. The Letters to the Grand Duchess Christina, however, are more engaging, particularly for those more interested in the social consequences of Galileo's discoveries.

[Kim Denning-Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for a History of Science course in college. I completely dreaded the task, but ended up really enjoying the read. In the end, my final grade wasn't so great but I'm happy to have read this and several other of the assigned texts.

[Jody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really, really hard to read (I read it off and on over a period of 3 months). Fascinating, but because most of it was actual letters written back and forth between Galileo and others, it was written in such formal, old English that it was hard to follow.

[Sassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Galileo Galilei is truly one of the greats of mankind. He helped usher in not only new scientific discoveries that were unknown to man, but he helped establish the scientific mode of thinking. This English translation is a great read and I highly recommend it.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um, I didn't really read the whole thing. But I skimmed it and I feel a lot smarter!

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galileo's wit and sarcasm made this interesting book absolutely fun. Except for all the bits about prejudice and really stubborn people who wouldn't look at ideas in a clear light.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful dip into the mind of the founder of modern science.