GALILEO GALILEI By LEOPOLD VACCARO, M.D.

PHILADELPHIA

ALILEOG GALILEI was born From the civil wars of France gushed in Pisa on February 15, 1564, the powerful French unity. three days after the death of It was during this period that the Michael Angelo, and died on most abstract questions were arousing January 8, 1642, the same year that and inflaming the minds of the multi­ Newton was born. The year following tudes. From this clashing of ideas his death Torricelli, his faithful pupil, new problems and new solutions were discovered the barometer. born. It was a general fermentation Italy was then the most cultured of ideas and of things. What was community of the world. Latin and fermenting in the solitary brains of Greek were generally mastered and the great religious reformers, Bruno the vernacular language was correctly and Campanella, was crystallized in and elegantly spoken and written by Galileo and the Modern World was the cultured men. In this century breaking away from all the mystic and lived Andrea Cesalpino, Paolo Sarpi, scholastic elements, from all pre­ Giordano Bruno and Tommaso Cam­ judices, and asserting itself on a solid panella. The diffusion of culture was basis. Therefore, Galileo was the real visible in all parts of Italy. Not father of the Modern World. only the social and historical sciences The method which Galileo applied had advanced, but the exact and to the new natural sciences became natural sciences under the dominating the universal and absolute method, influences of Galileo had made remark­ the path of truth in all of its applica­ able strides. The discovery of America tions. Induction chased away syllo­ and the abundance of gold gave gism and experiment put to flight the occasion to the writing of numerous supernatural. Tradition and authority works on political economy and were thus doomed. Galileo constructed jurisprudence. a New World on facts and facts alone. Whoever watched Italy could not These current ideas were not new help calling her a happy land. Wars in Italy. Macchiavelli and his admir­ and revolutions had forsaken her. able “Metodo” had attempted to There was peace, tranquillity and put aside the scholastic concepts, but rest for the mind. England boasted of under Galileo these ideas are properly Cromwell, but she had Masaniello. relocated, detached, brought in bold Europe moved without her and out­ relief, formulated with clarity and side of her pale among wars and energy so that they appeared a real revolutions which were shaping and revelation. Humanity was entering accelerating a new civilization. She in the bosom of nature and becoming was lying blessed in that idyllic a part of the natural history. She was leisure which was the inspiration and abandoning the World of abstraction Muse of her poets. Out of the wars of and entering upon the serious study of Germany sprung political liberty. man and nature, the study of realities. Galileo blazed the logical path from learned these arts as a matter of which came forth the great advance­ course. Galileo’s father, who was in ment of positive sciences. rather poor financial circumstances, Galileo’s father, Vincenzo, was poor definitely decided to make a physician but of noble birth. He left Florence of his son. The profession was then for Pisa where he taught music and both honorable and lucrative, particu­ played several instruments. He was larly adapted to the boy’s passion for married to Giulia Ammannati, a noble observation. Therefore, he decided woman of Brescia, in July 1562. to send him to the University of Galileo was born two years after this Pisa under the vigilant care of a union. The first years of Galileo’s relative residing in Pisa. life were none too happy with a He reached Pisa in September, mother that was none too tender for 1581. He had two worthy masters, him. His father was frequently absent, Andrea Cesalpino, the first to recog­ his work often taking him to Florence. nize the sex in flowers and by some He learned the rudiments of grammar authorities recognized as the dis­ from a poor, but pedantic priest. coverer of the circulation of the blood. While he was being taught abstract The other teacher was Francesco syntax, his mind was on games and Buonamici, professor of philosophy. toys. He derived great pleasure from The teaching of philosophy then com­ toys that resembled instruments and prised such sciences as physics, biol­ machines. ogy, cosmography and astronomy. At the age of ten, Galileo was The teaching was entirely based on brought to Florence by his family Aristotle’s works which had been where his education was carried out. accepted by the Church as the basis The child showed extraordinary apti­ of scholasticism. tude and talent for music. Soon These studies proved very tedious after, he had to study the “humani­ to Galileo. Inasmuch as they excluded ties” from a mediocre teacher, but free discussion and the expression of this meant nothing to a prodigy individual ideas, was it worth while with a positive mind. Cicero, Ovid for him to waste his father’s allowance and Virgil made no impression upon on out-of-date commentaries which his mind. He soon relinquished the dulled his brain and repressed his Latin classics and became absorbed powers of observation? He hated to in the works of Dante, Petrarch and accept blind statements. He wanted Boccaccio, who were disdained by rigorous demonstrations, experimental the pedants. proofs. Almost providentially some­ He was next sent to the school thing happened which changed the of the Benedictines at Vallombroso whole career of Galileo. near Florence, where he had to learn The court of Florence was trans­ Logic and Scholasticism. The religious ferred to Pisa for a short period. influence of this environment was Ostilio Ricci, a friend of Galileo’s such that he had almost entered that father, also came to Pisa as the order had not his father dissuaded Grand Duke’s mathematician and him. Galileo owed much to his father, soon a warm friendship between the such as the knowledge of drawing two was established. Ricci was amazed and of music. Florentine nobility at the boldness and accuracy of this boy’s reasoning and loved him for it. that the halves of the semicircle Ricci had asked him who had taught involved in its motion were covered him along these lines, and the boy in equal time, in spite of the progres­ confided to him the bitter disappoint­ sive slackening of its activity. Great ment of not having had a worthy or small, were the oscillations of teacher, capable of teaching him the lamp really taking place in the geometry and mathematics, which same period of time? This observation he considered as the foundation of seemed to him miraculous. He rushed harmony and design. home to prove by experiment what he Ricci saw in the scholar the scientist had seen and discovered. in the making, devoted to mathe­ This discovery Galileo immediately matics which alone was capable of applied to the medical field, such as satisfying his passion for precision the counting of the pulse, and later and creative thought, but he also on, the measurement of time, and to realized the financial difficulties of his astronomical studies, to forecast Galileo’s father, and would not assume eclipse and other celestial phenomena. the responsibility of advising the boy He had now reached the age of to carry out his life ambitions. Gali­ twenty and was astonishing his leo’s father was, therefore, consulted teachers by his practical observa­ and no obstacles were placed in his tions, in lieu of abstract propositions. path, provided he would not give He considered the science of mathe­ up the study of medicine. matics as the language of nature, Galileo soon plunged himself into and the application of numerical rela­ the world of Euclid and Archimedes, tions to his observations, as the neglecting medicine and Aristotle. ultimate way to determine the laws His father became aware of it and of the universe. His views were com­ reproached him severely. Galileo stud­ municated to the best mathematicians ied his preferred subjects, secretly of the century, who complimented hiding his theorems under the works him. His fame grew rapidly. of Hippocrates and Galen. Ricci, Leaving Pisa, without graduating fearing to compromise himself with as a physician, he obtained a position Galileo’s father, abandoned the prod­ as lecturer on mathematics at Siena. igy to his destiny. At the same time he gave lessons to The study of Archimedes exercised a few noblemen on Dante. But he a profound influence on Galileo. In­ saw no future for himself and longed stead of attending his lectures at the for a position at the University of University he was walking through Pisa or the University of Florence. streets of Pisa and the surrounding At the same time he realized his country, in deep meditation. extreme youth for these positions. One day while worshipping in the He appealed to the celebrated mathe­ Cathedral, he noticed that the janitor, maticians, with whom he had cor­ after feeding an oil lamp, had left it responded, and finally succeeded in swinging. This commonplace occur­ obtaining a recommendation from rence, which had passed unobserved Cardinal Carmerlingue for the Uni­ by all the preceding generations, re­ versity of Bologna, but the effort vealed to him a rhythm, a regularity was futile. He was, however, ap­ in its going and coming, showing pointed to the chair of Mathematics at the University of Pisa at 60 florins The first lecture of Galileo at the a year. This was the equivalent of University of Padua was delivered five dollars a month in the United on December 7, 1592, establishing a States. In order to live he had to give standard for a chair which had re­ private lessons and probably practiced mained vacant for two years for want medicine, although it is not definitely of a worthy professor. The scholastic known whether he graduated as a concept of the universe at that time doctor, and how good a doctor he was a series of interlocked spheres was. We know that he had sent for on top of which was the high heaven; his treatise by Galen which he had then came the crystalline spheres of left behind. fixed stars and then the planets. In Galileo’s stay at the University of the center of the universe was our Pisa with his innovations and original World and all the celestial spheres conclusions had aroused the jealousy revolved around it, in twenty-four of his fellow professors, who differed hours. from him on his teachings on the Tommaso Campanella had written laws of movement and gravity op­ a treatise entitled “De Sphaera Aris- posed to Aristotle’s accepted theories. tarchi” where he advanced the Coper­ Galileo proved his point by throwing nican theory of the motility of the two balls, one big and one small, earth. Before Copernicus, two illus­ from the leaning tower, both reaching trious Italians, Filolao and Timeo the pavement simultaneously, before had promulgated the hypothesis of a delegation of Doctors, wearing long the motility of the earth. Campanella velvet robes, and other citizens. begged Galileo to reform astronomy, In 1591 he had the misfortune of but Galileo, who also had his own losing his father and had to return to hypothesis, would not commit himself Florence where he had considerable without first proving his own proposi­ financial difficulties. In 1592 he was tions by experiment. It was a conflict invited by his friend and protector between the Florentine culture, which Del Monte to Venice, through whose was mature and truly positive, and influence the Doge of Venice recom­ the culture of the South, which was mended him to the Rector of Padua speculative. to fill the Chair of Mathematics. The Polish monk Copernicus, who At Venice Galileo became very had been a pupil at Padua, and had friendly with Paolo Sarpi, who was learned the theories of Filolao and a friend and co-worker of William Timeo, had a different concept of Harvey. He also became acquainted nature. He advanced the hypothesis with a future Pope, Cardinal Borghese, of the rotation of the earth on its own who later became Pope Paul v, and axis in twenty-four hours, and around Donato, Doge of Venice, and estab­ the sun in one year. This was a simple lished a warm friendship with the hypothesis and had been accepted by Venetian Ambassador Sagredo at the the Church as a truly and purely home of Morosini which was the mathematical proposition, not con­ rendevous of intellectuals. He met trary to the Scriptures. Copernicus many illustrious characters that died a few days after the publication played an important part in the of his book. Nobody paid any particu­ tragedy of his life. lar attention to this theory except Giordano Bruno, the greatest philos­ went on record in defense of foreign opher of the Italian Renaissance. students against the Bishop of Padua. Galileo was deeply influenced by A new sect, the Jesuit fathers, had Bruno’s writings. For many years emerged within the Church, whose Bruno led an errant life in foreign main object was to combat any countries under strong suspicion of movement that savored of religious the Inquisition. He demonstrated the reform and might undermine the scientific and philosophic consequences existence of the Church. These fathers arising out of that system, explaining had settled in Padua, and had founded that the earth was not the center a school on lines quite similar to the of the universe and stationary, as University of Padua, giving rise to was then believed, but a planet many clashes between the students revolving around the sun; that there of the University and their own. were innumerable worlds, each in­ The Venetian Republic often inter­ dependent and probably inhabited vened and ruled in favor of the lay like our earth. He maintained that students, in open defiance to the the Bible should not intervene in Vatican. Galileo was a very pious questions of Nature. The Inquisition Catholic, but his sympathies, as al­ finally laid its clutches upon Bruno ready shown, were for free discussion and burned him alive in Rome. and investigation, without restriction. Campanella’s incarceration for many The salary paid Galileo at Padua years, and Bruno’s fate, must have was insufficient for his personal needs. made Galileo ponder most seriously As a side line, he taught military before daring to lay the foundations architecture to princes and nobles, of a science that would run counter especially those who intended to follow to the interests of the Church. At a military career. heart he shared Bruno’s opinion, At this time Galileo invented a com­ but he still taught the old-fashioned pass constructed with four branches, astronomy, though he scorned it. each graduated, which served to divide Galileo accepted Bruno’s hypothesis, lines in equal parts, to change the but before officially sponsoring it, scale of figures, and to determine the he wanted to prove it by rigorous relationship of equivalent bodies. This experimental demonstrations. He was instrument was quite complicated, the first great scientist of the new and required special instruction, and era and would not be carried away was the means of procuring additional by the brilliant imaginations of great students to the great master. Galileo’s philosophers. He deplored the inter­ fame grew rapidly; celebrities from ference of the Church in the realm of all over the world were anxious to science. meet him and pay him homage. While the Inquisition was vig­ In addition to his own expenses, orously prosecuting and suppressing Galileo had to bear the burden of the advanced thinkers of the Renais­ his family and furnish a dowry for sance in the various sections of Italy, the marriage of his sister, which he the Venetian Republic would not was not able to fully pay until later on tolerate any interference by the in life, a matter causing him many Church in matters secular. For this heartaches. In 1599 the Venetian reason, on many occasions, the Doge Senate voted for the renewal of his contract with an increase of 140 proached by a compatriot who tried to florins. He was now afflicted with sell him the secret of distant conversa­ articular rheumatism and was under tion by means of the “sympathy of the care of one of his many friends, magnetized needles.” He treated him Fabricius of Acquapendente, the fa­ as a charlatan and disposed of him mous anatomist of Padua, teacher quickly. Later centuries proved that of William Harvey, who prescribed this was the basic principle of pills of aloes, which were carefully telegraphy. What a revolution it prepared by Galileo himself to save might have caused then if this money. obscure inventor had received due Galileo probably thought as Cicero, recognition! that no man can devote himself to a Besides being a scientist and a wife and Science; therefore, he never philosopher, Galileo wrote several legally married. During the spare burlesque comedies to occupy his hours Galileo revelled in the field leisure hours and participated in of mechanics, and constructed a ma­ the traditional ceremonies of the chine capable of raising water for University. the irrigation of the soil. In 1593 Under the protection of the winged he applied for a copyright from the lion of San Marco which symbolized Government of Venice. He associated the force and right of the Venetian himself with the great literati of Republic, numerous German Lu­ Padua, who met at the house of therans and so-called heretics from Pinelli, where questions of philosophy, other nations flocked to Padua and science and literature were discussed were never molested. by those, who were versatile in all The populace of Padua was still matters; so characteristic of the intel­ fettered by superstition. In 1604 a lectuals of this age. new star made its appearance; the In December, 1602 the Venetian public interpreted it as an ominous Ambassador left for London and sign, possibly a war, an epidemic or Sagredo, Galileo’s friend, took advan­ some other calamity. The magicians tage of the opportunity to com­ and the astrologers gave their inter­ municate with William Gilbert, an pretations. The Aristotelians, who Englishman, who had just published held steadfast to the belief that the a remarkable work on the “Magnet.” number of stars was fixed since their Galileo, realizing the great worth creation, were panic stricken and of the English philosopher, added deduced that the new star must have a few words of appreciation. Soon been an illusion. after, Sagredo acquired a magnet Galileo was one of the very first and was carrying on experiments of to observe this new apparition and, his own. He loaned it to Galileo, who in response to public demand, he succeeded in multiplying the power delivered three brilliant lectures in of the magnet by means of armatures explanation thereof. The theories ad­ and by winding steel threads around vanced by Galileo caused a rupture the poles. He made numerous observa­ with the Peripatetics of Padua, espe­ tions which were communicated to cially with Cremonino, who was con­ Sagredo and Sarpi. While playing sidered as the genius of Aristotle. with the magnet Sagredo was ap­ Galileo answered his opponents under an assumed name with a dialogue, excommunicated the Venetians and written in Paduan dialect. the Jesuits were doing all in their A student of medicine, by name power to engender disobedience and Capra, who had attended the three disorder. On his return to Padua lectures given by Galileo, in order to he had received permission for the further embarrass him, accused the publication of his book and a raise great scientist of plagiarism. Galileo in salary of 200 florins, making it in ignored Capra, but his silence meant all 500 florins. The book was dedicated defeat. Another man of the same to Cosimo De’Medici and was entitled stamp of Capra, Ludovico Delie “Operations of the Geometric and Colombe, took upon himself to attack Military Compass.” the dialogue written by Galileo. This Galileo made frequent visits to affair, while comic, was the cause of Florence, especially at Morosini’s great suffering for the scientist in the house, where the illustrious men of end. It was the starting point of a the city gathered. He probably heard definite rupture between the Aris­ there that in Flanders an optician totelians, who, in connivance with the had presented to Count Maurice theologians, were seeking to condemn of Nassau an instrument that magni­ the great philosopher and astronomer fied distant objects. Some gave cre­ and with him annihilate all Modern dence to this news, others were skepti­ Science. cal, but Galileo’s mind was inspired Galileo’s exact conclusions on the by this fantastic invention. Galileo, new star created great enthusiasm, knowing the laws of optics and throughout the rest of Italy, not­ geometry, conceived that to obtain withstanding the hostility shown him magnification, it was necessary to in Padua. The Grand Duke of Tuscany have a concave and convex lens. and the Florentines were longing to As soon as he had understood the have the famous scientist back in principle of the magnifying glass, he his native land. They were devoted reconstructed the accidental discovery patriots and were loath to have other of the Dutch optician. With mathe­ Republics capitalize their native gen­ matical precision he calculated the ius. In the meantime, Giugni, who curve of the lenses that would give had been a pupil of Galileo and the greatest magnification of distant was the son of the Grand Chamberlain objects. Once he had perfected the of the Tuscan Court, had returned theory of the apparatus he had only and had spoken to the Grand Duchess to perfect the material and obtain Christina about Galileo. She there­ the best lenses and most suitable tubes upon invited Galileo to spend a few to hold them together. He had weeks at her summer residence, offer­ thus discovered the telescope which ing him a good room, a seat at her opened the path to infinite scientific table and a most cordial welcome. progress. The young Prince Cosimo was also The enthusiasm of the Venetians greatly delighted to entertain him. reached the zenith and Galileo was In 1606 Galileo went to Venice to summoned to the Ducal Palace. In obtain permission to print his book the presence of Doge Leonardo Do­ on the geometric compass. The city nato and members of the Senate he was in an uproar. Pope Paul v had demonstrated his epochal instrument. He was appointed professor for life of an infinite universe. It was dedi­ with an increase in stipend. cated to Cosimo 11, and the four In an age in which manual work satellites of Jupiter discovered by was not shunned by thinkers Galileo him were named “Medicean” from spent many tedious nights in manu­ the family of Medici. The astronomer, facturing and improving the lenses Kepler, gave his stamp of approval of his telescope, until he had con­ to the “Siderius Nuncius.” structed an instrument which mag­ Galileo made no direct attack on nified an object 32,000 times. He the accepted religious beliefs of the turned this powerful instrument to­ time, as he had no inclination, as a ward the heavens. This was in the pious Catholic, to enter into religious year 1610, a memorable date, which controversy, but his enemies, headed definitely divides the past from the by Cremonino, began to show open present. hostility to the great scientist, dis­ Galileo was the creator of this new crediting the existence of the new era. The experimental method was stars as a pure fabrication. These given to the World together with the enemies obstinately refused to look exact formulae of laws that govern through the telescope, but were un­ nature. With this powerful instru­ sparing with criticism and sarcasm. ment, Galileo began his astronomic The opposition, the wakeful nights, speculations which modified the the endless correspondence soon af­ Biblical and Ptolemaic systems. The fected the health of Galileo. He facts that had been advanced as longed to return to his native Florence hypothesis by Bruno had now ac­ and devote the rest of his life in the quired absolute certainty. Galileo’s service of science and his beloved “Siderius Nuncius” was as marvelous city. Cosimo 11 appointed him Chief as the memorable voyage of Colum­ Mathematician to the University of bus. The mountains of the moon, the Pisa and Chief Mathematician and phases of Venus and Mars, the spots Philosopher to his Highness. of the sun, the satellites of Jupiter Among the staunch friends of were being discovered in rapid suc­ Galileo was the Benedictine Father cession. Natural philosophy had won Castelli, who by pure reason followed the last battle with public opinion. up the work of Copernicus, deducing The facts were there and spoke louder the phases of Venus, thus originating than the syllogisms of the theologians the fundamental premises of scientific and the scholastics. The “effectual research, the hypothesis. He defended things” of Machiavelli, the “natural his friend with vigor and ability, but luminary” of Bruno, the “experi­ to no avail since the enemies were mental method” of Telesius, the blind and deaf to the truth. The “liberty acceptable to truth” by Jesuit Fathers of the Roman College Campanella, had now been com­ had independently carried on experi­ pletely proved by Galileo. “Philos­ ments, under Father Clavio, and had ophy is written in the great book confirmed the existence of the satel­ of nature,” said Galileo. The “Siderius lites of Jupiter, which Galileo had Nuncius” by Galileo revealed to the called the Medicean Planets, in honor astonished world the science of astro­ of his Monarch and protector. This nomical facts and a positive knowledge was a source of comfort and jubilation for Galileo who decided to journey to Giordano Bruno to be burned alive Rome, where he met Cardinal Maffeo at the stake. An accuser arose in the Barberini and was received by Paul v. person of Father Lorini, who preferred Princes and Cardinals begged him charges against Galileo for confirming to be their guest. He was feted by the statement of Copernicus that the the most exclusive Roman aristocracy earth revolves and the sun remains to whom he demonstrated his tele­ immovable. scope and his many heavenly dis­ On February 25, 1615, Bellarmin coveries. One prelate, however, stood assembled the members of the Holy apart—this was Cardinal Bellarmin Office to take account of Lorini’s of the Inquisition, who feared that accusation and other errors in the the ideas of Galileo might eventually meaning and interpretation of the undermine the stability and security Holy Scriptures. Galileo had numer­ of the Church. ous and able defenders and friends Returning to Florence after his among the clergy, such as Monsignor great triumph in Rome, the Grand Gianpoli. Duke gave a banquet in his honor, To a priest who had pleaded the which was attended by Cardinal cause of Galileo, Cardinal Bellarmin Maffeo Barberini, who later on became replied as follows: “‘The sun rises Pope Urban vm, the deciding factor and sets and returns to its place,’ in the tragedy of Galileo later on. said Solomon, who not only spoke as With the increasing host of friends, inspired by God, but was the wisest arose the enemies. The followers of of all wise men who learned human Aristotle, whose philosophy was ap­ sciences and in the knowledge of parently based on the Bible, being things created, and whose wisdom in danger, were seeking the support was given to him by God.” of the State Religion. The greatest Galileo felt that he had to go to agitator against our scientist was Rome to defend himself from the Ludovico Delle Colombe who accused accusations of his enemies. On Friday, the followers of Galileo of teaching a March 26, 1616 he appeared at the doctrine, contrary to the Scriptures, Palace of the Cardinal and in the which testified that the earth was presence of the Commissary of the immobile, in the center of the uni­ Inquisition, he was informed of his verse, with the sun revolving around errors and ordered in the name of it. the Pope and Holy See to reject them. Delle Colombe pointed out the He signed his renunciation broken- first rule of theology, which states heartedly with death in his soul. that when the Bible can be literally He was disappointed by the setback interpreted, it should not be analyzed. that science and philosophical liberty This argument was injected to arouse had received after the brilliant dis­ the fanaticism of the Inquisition. coveries he had made. He returned to Several priests fell in his trap and Florence in July 1616, where his delivered sermons against the Galilean friends rejoiced at his safety, and doctrines. Cardinal Bellarmin watched settled in his villa at Bellosguardo from Rome the development of what in complete seclusion, devoting his he considered pure heresy. It was time to the care of his garden. But this Cardinal who had condemned his mind was not inactive. He meditated on the principle of lace. Father Grassi gave his theoretical the expansion of fluids by heat and interpretation. Galileo gave his ver­ applied it to the reading of tempera­ sion. He pointed out that comets tures. It was another useful invention had trajectories which distinguished which we physicians use in our daily them from the other heavenly bodies. practice: the clinical thermometer. Observing that the comets were trans­ It was rather crude and consisted of a parent with the tails in opposite graduated glass tube, with an open directions to the sun he ascribed end inverted on a receptacle of water. their light to the reflection of the The opposite pole was closed and sun on vapors. He added that this contained a globe of air. As the was only a hypothesis and needed tube was heated it expanded the air to be corroborated by experimental and compressed the water and vice proof. Galileo’s explanation did not versa. Robert Fludd (1574-1637) an­ harmonize with the interpretation of nounced this invention as his own in Father Grassi of the Jesuit Roman London without giving credit to College. This helped to further arouse Galileo. the antagonism of that sect. It was also at this villa that he Cardinal Barberini, one of the most rendered another great service to cultured men of the age, who on many medicine and science, by conceiving occasions had strenuously defended the microscope, which at the hands of Galileo from his countless enemies, Malpighi and Borelli was destined to headed by Capra, Cremonini, Shreiner revolutionize biology and pathology. and others, was now created Pope While secluded and disgusted with and assumed the name of Urban vm. the insincerities of the Court life he Monsignor Gianpoli, another staunch applied himself to the determination friend of Galileo, was made Secret of the exact position of the Medicean Chamberlain to the Pope. The future satellites. He developed a chart which of science as laid out by the famous had been considered impossible of astronomer seemed auspicious. accomplishment by both Kepler and The Accademia dei Lincei which Father Clavio. was in possession of Galileo’s manu­ At this period also he applied his script “II Saggiatore” had just pub­ calculations to the determination of lished the book and had dedicated it longitudes which theretofore had been to the new Pontiff. The Aristotelians, applied to lunar eclipses, the infre­ scholastics and Jesuits realized that quency of which created great dis­ this was not a propitious time to crepancies in the existent marine renew their attacks on their opponent charts. Since the Medicean satellites who was the man of the hour. Much with their rapid movements around has been written about these bigots Jupiter, brought eclipses all year and their merciless vindictiveness. round, this Galilean discovery enabled It constitutes one of the dark chapters navigators to estimate their positions in history which might as well be more accurately and correct the charts passed over, except that in striking at already in use. Galileo they were attempting to deal In the month of August, 1618 a mortal blow to science generally. three comets appeared in the sky, This persecution against the great creating great excitement in the popu­ and the wise was not a characteristic of the dominating Church. The Greeks Imprimatur. Urban vm had hereto­ had done the same thing with Socrates fore been an ardent supporter of and the Calvinists with Servetus. Galileo. While a Cardinal he loved In our own country we have not science and openly sponsored the forgotten the persecution of the Galilean postulates, but now his con­ Quakers in Boston. science, as a disciple of science and In the spring of 1664 Galileo left a theologian, was in conflict. He was for Rome for an audience with the the responsible head of a great Church. Pope. He was now sixty years of age. The Reformation was spreading its Urban vm received him several times, tentacles everywhere. The Italians, conferring upon him unusual honors. under the leadership of Bruno and In the following year Galileo had Campanella, without an open rebellion put the finishing touches on his like the Germans, had attempted to masterpiece “The Dialogue concern­ bring reforms within the Church by ing two new Sciences” and applied the free interpretation of the Scrip­ for the Imprimatur or permission of tures. Galileo, although a pious Cath­ Publication from the Holy See. The olic and a warm friend of the Pope, Pope was busily engaged in trying by his innovations was leading the to halt the rising tide of Protestantism enlightened minds from the restricted and disobedience to the Mother knowledge into the broad path of Church. He, therefore, assigned the experiment and investigation. The task of examining the manuscript to Pope felt the Church was being Monsignor Gianpoli, who granted the undermined and free thought should permit of publication on the following be repressed. conditions: The Copernican system Galileo was therefore subjected to was to be treated as a simple hypothe­ untold persecution in spite of inter­ sis; the proposed title Ebb and Flow cession of his Prince and the Floren­ should not be used; the Copernican tine Ambassador Niccolini. In spite system should be refuted at the end of serious illness, Galileo was com­ and a submission to the Church’s pelled to journey to Rome by litter decisions should be acknowledged. and defend himself before the In­ When the Dialogue was finally quisitorial tribunal. We have no proof published, after considerable delays of any actual physical torture. At and negotiations with the Inquisi­ Castle Sant ’Angelo I have been torial office, the Pope read it carefully shown a cell supposed to have been and realized that the Copernican occupied by Galileo, although he hypothesis, on the motility of the spent most of his time in the Embassy earth and stability of the sun, had of Florence. been fully confirmed with physical Galileo was coerced into the signing arguments. of an abjuration while on his knees. Urban vm was considered one of The revolt in his soul was such that the characters in the Dialogue, called as he arose, he declared: “eppur si Simplicio, who upheld the scholastic muove!”, which means whether you point of view as personifying the deny or not the earth goes on in its Pope himself. His ire was, therefore, rotation and revolutions! aroused and Monsignor Gianpoli was Galileo’s renunciation of his doc­ severely reproached for granting the trine was broadcast everywhere by the Jesuits and Inquisitors. The scien­ mournfully his two disciples, Viviani tist was imposed certain penances and Torricelli, who were both to and permitted to live with the Bishop become famous and carry on his of Pisa who greatly admired him, and scientific torch. By order of the secretly shared his views. Duke his body was interred at the Galileo was broken-hearted. There Church of Santa Croce in Florence. was nothing to live for except to be Scientific medicine owes a great near his daughter Maria Celeste, debt to Galileo. He established a who was a nun and had offered to new orientation toward natural submit to the penances imposed on sciences. Like Leonardo Da Vinci, her illustrious father. He begged the he was not satisfied to discover the ecclesiastical permission to retire in reasons of a given fact, but searched the Villa of Arcetri, where the poet for a law, exact and mathematical, Milton visited him. which determined its phenomena. His After three months’ residence at was the experimental method: ex­ Acetri he was taken seriously ill amine all facts with a critical mind and, to increase his physical and and reproduce the phenomena. He moral sufferings, his daughter died. did not consider the five senses as As hard as this blow proved to be, sufficient without the control of rea­ it did not crush him, for in 1634 he son, and also maintained that reason completed his monumental works on alone, without the control of the “The Laws of Motion” and “The senses, was a source of many errors. Resistance of Bodies,” which were In this conception he was in perfect published in France, presumably with­ accord with the Father of Medicine: out his knowledge. Hippocrates. In 1637 the Government of the The science of medicine will ever Netherlands in appreciation of Gali­ be grateful to him for his discovery leo’s calculations on longitude, which of the laws of oscillation with the had been of such valuable service to practical application to the counting that maritime nation, sent a delega­ of the pulse; the discovery of the tion to present the great scientist with thermometer and its daily use by a gold chain. Galileo was forced to our fraternity; and as one of those who decline this token of admiration under did most to develop the microscope the pretext that he was unable to with its subsequent countless dis­ complete the negotiations. The In­ coveries in the field of biology, botany, quisition had put its veto! pathology and bacteriology. Physics It was a comfort to the scientist and astronomy will ever remember that after thirty-five years the world him for the discovery of the laws of had accepted his ideas. In the follow­ inertia, the laws of weight, the laws ing year a great calamity befell him. of movements, the discovery of the He became totally blind. The uni­ telescope and the establishment of verse, which he had scoured with the Copernican system by irrefutable his eagle eye and whose laws he had physical proofs. discovered, was forever cut off from Navigators will ever remember him him! for his calculations on the longitude On January 8, 1642 he expired and the perfection of the marine peacefully. By his bedside stood charts. Galileo and later his illus­ trious compatriot, Guglielmo Marconi, ristampate da Paolo de Lagarde. Gottin- have done more for their safety on berga, 1888. the high seas than any other group Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences. Trans, by Henry Crew and Alfonso de of men. Salvio. Lond., Macmillan, 1914. The stripping of the Heavens of Hooks, J. H. Mathematical Discourses their mysteries, the banishment of Concerning Two New Sciences relating scholasticism from the domain of to Mechanicks and Local Motion by science and the unselfish and inflexible Galileo Galilei. 1730. Von Gebler, K. Galileo Galilei—London, devotion to truth made of Galileo Kegan Paul, 1879. not only the Immortal Genius of Opere Latine di Giordano Bruno Felice the Renaissance, but the incarnation Tocco. Firenze, 1889. of Modern Science, the ideal Disciple D’Ancona, A. Opere di Tommaso Camp­ of Aesculapius. anella. Torino, Cugini Pomba, 1854. Galileo. His Life and Work. N. Y., Pott, References 1903. Namer, E. Galileo. N. Y., McBride, 1921. i. Le Opere di Galileo Galilei Antonio Favaro. Firenze. Opere di Giordano Bruno. Lipsia, Wagner, Opere di Galileo Galilei nella stampa di 1830. S.A.R. Per Gio: Gaetano Tarlini e Brewster, Sir D. Life of Galileo. Santi Franchi. Firenze, 1718. Paoli, A. Galileo Galilei. Le Opere italiane di Giordano Bruno Castiglioni, A. Storia della Medicina.