Galileo in Context

This 2001 text explores the intellectual, cultural and social contexts that substantially shaped Galilean science.

Jürgen Renn (Edited by)

9780521001038, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 July 2002

436 pages
24.8 x 17.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.93 kg

'What we have here is a collection of meticulously detailed studies of various aspects of Galileo, his work, and his impact on the following generation. All should be regarded as essential reading for anyone interested in Galileo and his historical context …' The British Journal for the History of Philosophy

A 2001 survey of past attempts to dispel the myth of Galileo as isolated pioneer, and to explore instead the intellectual, cultural and social contexts that substantially shaped Galilean science. In particular, attention is paid to the influence of contemporary engineer-scientists on Galilean experimental physics, the influence of artists on the visual representation techniques used in Galilean astronomy, and the power structures of Galileo's day and their influence on his career and the way in which scientific information was organised and communicated in Early Modern Europe. An appendix includes in English translation three essays by pioneering Galileo scholars from the turn of the last century, Favaro, Caverni and Wohlwill, prefaced by biographical introductions placing their work in context.

Introduction Jürgen Renn
Part I. The Context of the Practitioners: Mechanics and its New Objects: 1. Galileo engineer: art and modern science Wolfgang Lefèvre
2. Hunting the white elephant: when and how did Galileo discover the Law of Fall? Jürgen Renn, Peter Damerow and Simone Rieger
Part II. The Context of the Artists: Astronomy and its New Representations: 3. Gazing hands and blind spots: Galileo as draftsman Horst Bredekamp
4. The virgin and the telescope: the moons of Cigoli and Galileo Sara Booth and Albert van Helden
Part III. The Contexts of the Church, Patrons and Colleagues: New Science and Traditional Power Structures: 5. Recent narratives on Galileo and the church: or the three dogmas of the Counter-Reformation Rivka Feldhay
6. Gassendi and l'Affaire Galilée of the Laws of Motion Paolo Galluzzi
7. Replication or monopoly? The economies of invention and discovery in Galileo's observations of 1610 Mario Biagioli
Appendix: A forgotten controversy: Introductory note Jürgen Renn
Raffaello Caverni and his History of the Experimental Method in Italy Giuseppe Castagnetti and Michele Camerota
An excerpt from History of the Experimental Method in Italy Raffaello Caverni
Antonio Favaro and the Edizione Nazionale of Galileo's Works Giuseppe Castagnetti and Michele Camerota
Apocryphal Galilean writings Antonio Favaro
Emil Wohlwill, Galileo and His Battle for the Copernican System Hans-Werner Schütt
The discovery of the parabolic shape of the projectile trajectory Emil Wohlwill.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]