The Museo Galileo is home to the only The new exhibition layout presents the historical surviving instruments designed and built by and cultural setting in which the Medici and Galileo himself. The most important are two Lorraine collections were assembled, the places original telescopes and the objective lens of where they were once displayed, the collectors’ the telescope with which Galileo discovered goals, and the activities of the scientists who Jupiter’s moons. More generally, the Museum played the leading role in this enterprise. On is the repository for the priceless scientific display are more than 1,000 instruments and collections of the two dynasties that once ruled devices of major scientific importance and Florence: the Medici and the House of Lorraine. exceptional beauty. The focus of the entire The Museum’s international renown makes the exhibit plan is Galileo. The Medici collections inauguration of the Museo Galileo one of the bear witness to the scientific culture in which key cultural events in the world this year. the Tuscan scientist emerged. The instruments The Museum’s subtitle will preserve its and experimental apparatuses acquired by the earlier name of “Istituto e Museo di Storia Lorraines in the 18th and 19th centuries reflect della Scienza” (Institute and Museum for the the powerful stimulus provided by Galileo’s History of Science). But the new designation discoveries to the development of physical and “Museo Galileo” adopted in 2010 emphasizes mathematical sciences in the modern age. the central role of the Galilean heritage in the The Museo Galileo tells the history of scientific Florentine institution’s activities and cultural activity in Florence and Tuscany centered on profile. The Museum is not only a showcase his emblematic figure. In many respects, this for an invaluable legacy of instruments history is linked to leading-edge international and experimental apparatuses. It operates research conducted in the same periods. Indeed, as an institute engaged in research and the Medici and Lorraines offered patronage and documentation, offering scholars from around support to highly talented scientists responsible the world the resources of its specialized for some of the key theoretical and practical library, also available online. advances in modern science. First Floor Second Floor The Medici The Lorraine Collections Collections
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Museo Galileo Room I The Medici Collections Room X The Lorraine Collections Piazza dei Giudici 1 50122 Florence Room II Astronomy and Time Room XI The Spectacle of Science Tel. +39 055 265311 www.museogalileo.it Room III The Representation of the World Room XII Teaching and Popularizing Science: Mechanics
Room IV Vincenzo Coronelli’s Globes Room XIII Teaching and Popularizing Science: Optics, Pneumatics, Electromagnetism Room V The Science of Navigation Room XIV The Precision Instrument Industry Room VI The Science of Warfare Room XV Measuring Natural Phenomena: Atmosphere and Light Room VII Galileo’s New World Room XVI Measuring Natural Phenomena: Electricity and Electromagnetism Room VIII The Accademia del Cimento: Art and Science of Experimentation Room XVII Chemistry and the Public Usefulness of Science
Translation: Room IX After Galileo: Exploring Room XVIII Science in the Home Catherine Frost the Physical and Biological World Room I Room II Room III The Medici Astronomy The Representation Collections and Time of the World
Over the years the Medici Since antiquity mankind has been fascinated The cultural value of Family, patrons of the by time, viewed as an enigma on both the cosmography in Medici Tuscany arts and science, formed philosophical and the physical level. Without is shown by the enthusiastic a superb collection of succeeding in explaining what time is, astronomy reception of Ptolemy’s scientific instruments has always contributed to defining its units Geography (2nd century that was housed for (year, month, day and hour), on the basis of the A.D.), one of the about two centuries observation of celestial phenomena, developing founding texts of in the Uffizi Gallery precise time-keeping instruments. The need to modern geographical alongside masterpieces control time is mirrored in the two main goals studies rediscovered of ancient and modern pursued by astronomy until the 17th in Florence in the art. The collection, begun century: establishing late 14th century. by the founder of the Grand a calendar to fix the The ambitious Duchy of Tuscany, Cosimo I correct dates of project for the New de’ Medici (1519-1574), religious festivities Wardrobe in Palazzo was further enriched by and recurrent Vecchio, conceived his successors: Francesco I events in civil life; by Cosimo de’ Medici (1541-1587), interested mainly and predicting the (1519-1574) as a grandiose in natural-history collections positions of the theatrum mundi, can and alchemy, and Ferdinando I (1549-1609), who stars and planets also be considered acquired a great number of mathematical, nautical to formulate as an attempt to and cosmographical instruments. Cosimo II astrological assimilate and update (1590-1621) had the unique privilege of adding to predictions. Ptolemy’s Geography. the collection the original instruments of Galileo Before the advent This project was emulated later in the Uffizi (1564-1642) – the geometric and military compasses of the telescope Gallery by Ferdinando I (1549-1609), who conceived and the telescopes. Other instruments, including the – opening new a Cosmographic Room containing representations ingenious glass thermometers, were made for the horizons for exploring of the Medicean domains and a great Ptolemaic Accademia del Cimento, founded by Grand Duke the nature of the celestial bodies model of the universe created by the cosmographer Ferdinando II (1610-1670) and Prince Leopoldo de’ – astronomical instruments, portable ones Antonio Santucci († 1613). The Palazzo Vecchio Medici (1617-1675). Cosimo III (1642-1723) supported in particular, were used mainly for measuring time. and the Uffizi projects form a continuum designed the mathematician Vincenzo Viviani (1622-1703), The Medici collection hosts a large number of the as a summa of 16th-century cosmology to celebrate Galileo’s disciple, and his project to commemorate most refined time-keeping instruments. the Prince’s power. the great scientist that was to continue throughout the 19th century. Room IV Room V Room VI Vincenzo Coronelli’s The Science The Science Globes of Navigation of Warfare
Four globes made by the Venetian cosmographer Having consolidated their In 1599 Ferdinando I (1549-1609) had the Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650-1718), famous for the power over Tuscany, the mathematical instruments moved from Palazzo great size of his creations, such as the globes nearly Medici turned their gaze Vecchio to a room dedicated to military architecture four meters in diameter built for Louis XIV, King of toward the sea, hoping in the Uffizi Gallery. The new display explicitly France, are present in the Medici collections. The to win a place in celebrated the “science of warfare” which, with the Museo Galileo’s globes belong to the series made oceanic navigation spread of firearms, had transformed battlefields into by Coronelli at the cosmographic Accademia degli and develop trade a theatre of geometric studies. Mortars compelled Argonauti founded by him in Venice in 1684. These with the East and modifying the geometry of fortresses. Moreover, globes are medium- and small-sized (about one West Indies. These a suitable knowledge of the ratio between the meter and about fifty centimetres in diameter). ambitions favoured weight and range of cannonballs was now required, In 1693 Coronelli described his globe-making the development of calling for precise measurement and computation techniques in the Epitome maritime science operations. Men of arms cosmografica. Hand- effectively contributing were obliged to written or printed to making Leghorn in sheets of paper, the Great Duchy a major called gores, were centre in the Mediterranean. It glued onto a large was equipped with arsenals, naval ball made of wood shipyards, nautical schools and workshops which and papier-mâché produced nautical instruments and cartography, and finished mainly for the captains of the Medicean fleet, the with plaster. The Knights of St. Stephen. In 1606 the English Admiral, twenty-six sheets Sir Robert Dudley (1573-1649) entered into the displayed in this service of Ferdinando I (1549-1609), marking the room (twenty-four reinforcement of the program of nautical science at half-gores and two the Medicean Court. In 1646-1647, Dudley published polar caps) were in Florence an imposing treatise on the art of acquire basic mathematical principles for the perfect printed in the 20th century navigation, Dell’arcano del mare, dedicating it to management of military operations. As stated by from the original copper plates kept Ferdinando II (1610-1670). After Dudley’s death his Galileo (1564-1642) for the noblemen who attended at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. These important group of nautical instruments became his lessons in mathematics, a soldier should have a plates were prepared for the second edition (Paris part of the Medicean collection. basic knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, surveying, 1693) of Coronelli’s celestial globe. perspective, mechanics and military architecture. This new approach to war favoured a vogue for collecting scientific instruments at court that swept through Europe as an intellectual celebration of the art of war. Room VII Room VIII Room IX Galileo’s The Accademia del Cimento: Art After Galileo: Exploring New World and Science of Experimentation the Physical and Biological World
The Summer of 1609 marks the beginning of the Founded in 1657 In the second half of the 17th century, meteorology revolutionary telescopic exploration of the skies by Grand Duke developed at a fast pace, thanks to increasingly that led to the sensational discoveries of Galileo Ferdinando II perfected instrumentation for measuring Galilei (1564-1642): the surface of the Moon appeared (1610-1670) thermometric, barometric and hygrometric grooved by mountains and valleys like those of and Prince Leopoldo variations. the Earth; the constellations displayed a multitude de’ Medici (1617-1675), The systematic of stars invisible to the naked eye; Jupiter was the Accademia del utilization surrounded by satellites (called the Medicean Stars Cimento was the first of improved by Galileo); Venus showed cyclic phases like those European society microscopes of the Moon; the Sun’s surface was marred by dark exclusively devoted yielded spots; Saturn bulged strangely at the sides. to science, preceding important These astronomical discoveries heralded a the foundation of results in the revolution destined to demolish an image of the the Royal Society fields of biology universe that had lasted for two thousand years. in London (1660) and entomology. The profound shock of that revolution, undermining and the Académie Francesco Redi faith in man’s privileged position in the universe, Royale des Sciences (1626-1698), a aroused violent antagonism that was to claim Galileo in Paris (1666). leading figure in these himself as victim. Following in the footsteps of Galileo, the Cimento fields of research, brilliantly conducted experiments to verify some principles combined refined strategies of of natural philosophy hitherto universally accepted experimentation with scrupulous on the basis of Aristotle’s authority. The Academy microscopic observations. Telescopes concluded its work in 1667 by publishing the of ever-greater size and more complex Essays on natural experiments, in which some of optical systems were also built at this its activities were described. Significant results time by expert instrument makers. With were achieved by the Academy in thermometry, such progress in telescopic instrumentation, barometry and the observation of Saturn. Numerous astronomical observations led to important experiments were designed to verify the possibility new discoveries. of creating a vacuum, and to observe its effects on animals and objects. The Accademia del Cimento played an important role in demolishing the traditional belief that nature abhors the vacuum. Room X Room XI Room XII The Lorraine The Spectacle Teaching and Popularizing Collections of Science Science: Mechanics
At the death of Gian Gastone de’ Medici (1671-1737), Spectacular effects were a typical feature of many In the 18th century, the the Habsburg-Lorraine family became the sovereigns aspects of 18th-century science. The high society of cultural vogue for presenting of Tuscany. At the initiative of Grand Duke Peter the time, avid for innovation and entertainment, science thanks to spectacular Leopold (1747-1792) the scientific collections were was fascinated by the phenomena of experimental experiments among the rearranged. In 1769 they were moved from the Uffizi physics. In salons and courts the laws of nature upper classes stimulated the Gallery to Palazzo Torrigiani, the premises of the were illustrated by itinerant lecturers who demand for new educational Imperial and Royal Museum of Physics and Natural taught science through instruments. They included History (today’s “La Specola” Museum) inaugurated spectacular experimental models of simple and complex in 1775. Equipped with laboratories and workshops, demonstrations. Using air machines to demonstrate the Museum was directed by the scientist Felice pumps, planetariums, solar the practical applications Fontana (1730-1805). To the collection from the microscopes and machines of scientific principles. Medicean legacy were added, over the years, for studying impact, they Educational apparatus apparatus built in the Museum’s workshops, such as offered courses in physics were frequently derived from machines or lathes, various instruments for research that avoided the abstruse research instruments that in physics (some invented by Fontana himself), wax language of mathematics. had become obsolete. anatomical models, workbenches, and precision Their lectures, often Numerous instruments instruments imported from presented like theatrical described in 18th-century abroad. The Museum also performances, were real treatises, highly ingeniousand had an astronomical social events. Over the efficacious, remained observatory. Among course of the 18th century in use in scientific cabinets, its directors was the the newly invented with few modifications, celebrated astronomer electrostatic machines up to the first decades and optician were used in amusing of the 20th century. Giovanni Battista “electric soirées,” where The instruments in Amici (1786-1863). the demonstrators the Lorraine collection In 1841, under staged spectacular are perfect replicas of those described the direction performances during in the treatises of famous 18th-century scientists of Vincenzo which the ladies and and demonstrators such as Willem Jacob‘s Antinori (1792- gentlemen present Gravesande (1688-1742) in Holland and Jean-Antoine 1865), the most experienced, on Nollet (1700-1770) in France. important part of their own bodies, the collection was the phenomena of displayed in the electric attraction, Galileo Tribune. repulsion, shocks The collection grew and sparks. until 1859, when the last Grand Duke, Leopold II (1797-1870), left Tuscany. Room XIII Room XIV Room XV Teaching and Popularizing The Precision Measuring Natural Phenomena: Science: Optics, Pneumatics, Instrument Industry Atmosphere and Light Electromagnetism
In the 19th century, with the enormous development In the 18th and 19th centuries the making of precision The affirmation of the of the educational system thanks to the foundation instruments for astronomy, geodetics, surveying experimental method of new schools, universities and polytechnic and navigation was concentrated mainly in Britain, in the 17th century and institutes, the demand for didactic tools grew. France and Germany. The British instrument maker the development of new To meet these new needs both 18th-century instruments stimulated instruments with a few modifications, and new significant progress apparatus demonstrating the fast-paced scientific in the investigation discoveries being made in the fields of acoustics, of natural processes, thermology, optics and electricity were utilized. helping to discover The educational instrumentation industry expanded the laws that governed rapidly, with its centres of excellence in London, them and to unveil Paris, and as from the late 19th century, in various invisible phenomena. German cities. In Italy the production of scientific The barometer was tools for teaching purposes was limited. Thus the used to reveal the Italian collections were equipped mainly with effects of atmospheric instruments made abroad. pressure and to measure variations in it caused by changes in the weather. The graduated thermometer was used to measure temperature objectively and ever Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800) invented the first machine more precisely. for precisely dividing graduated scales, while in The microscope and Bavaria Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826) produced the telescope enormously the finest optical-quality glass. In Italy, only Giovanni enhanced the powers Battista Amici (1786-1863) was able to design original of eyesight, revealing optical instruments, including excellent microscopes hitherto unknown phenomena of the microcosm and that could compete with foreign production. The macrocosm. Lastly, combination of lenses, prisms astronomical observatories founded in Italy, starting and mirrors led to progress in the science of optics. from the first decades of the 18th century, exploited the continuous improvements in instrumentation. The Florence Observatory (1780-1789), annexed to the Museum of Physics and Natural History, aspiring to compete with the great astronomical centres at Greenwich and in Paris, was equipped with mainly British instrumentation. Room XVI Room XVII Room XVIII Measuring Natural Phenomena: Chemistry and the Public Science Electricity and Electromagnetism Usefulness of Science in the Home
In the 18th century new instruments were invented, From the second half of the 15th century, the Medici In the 18th century, the vogue for not only to observe nature, but also to act on it, Court had attracted many alchemists to Florence. experimental science among creating new phenomena. Air pumps were used to Very little of the immense Medicean collection the upper classes created a study the effects of vacuum; electrostatic machines of alchemists’ instruments has survived. Among new market for instrument generating electric shock attracted enormous interest them, a few glass vessels used by the Accademia makers who, along and opened new perspectives in scientific research. del Cimento (1657-1667), and the great burning lens with one-of-a-kind In 1800 the invention of the electric battery heralded donated in 1697 to Cosimo III (1642-1723) pieces produced for the age of electrodynamics and electrochemistry. to experiment with the effects of combustion collectors, introduced Within a few decades, the study of electric current on gemstones in the Grand-ducal collection. a series of standard and its effects led to crucial discoveries, giving birth Much better documented is the Lorraine collection instruments, to electromagnetism, whose practical applications of pharmaceutical chemistry – emblematically furnished with triggered a new industrial revolution. represented by the “table of chemical affinities” that accessories, hung in the Grand-ducal pharmaceutical workshop often sold in – and of apparatus of theoretical and experimental kits. Compound chemistry. The discovery of hydrogen and the microscopes, reflecting method for determining the amounts of oxygen telescopes and and other gases present in the atmosphere favoured electrostatic machines the development of new measuring instruments, were usually employed such as the electric pistol and the hydrogen lamp by the wealthy classes for of Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), the evaerometro cultural entertainment of Felice Fontana (1730-1805), and the eudiometer and self-learning. Some of Marsilio Landriani (1751-1815). instruments – splendid table clocks, elegant globes, beautifully decorated barometers and thermometers – became furnishing items, displayed along with precious ornaments as symbols of high cultural and social status. Some extravagant objects, such as telescopes for ladies equipped with ivory cosmetic boxes and telescopes for gentlemen disguised as walking sticks, could also be found in upper-class homes.