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Historical Journeys Walk in Galileo's Footsteps in Rome, Florence, And

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Historical Journeys Walk in Galileo's Footsteps in Rome, Florence, And Historical journeys Walk in Galileo’s footsteps in Rome, Florence, and other haunts of the great Experience astronomer. Galileo’sby William Sheehan Italy t isn’t hard to find the influence of Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) on the history of astronomy. After all, he was the first to use a telescope to study the heavens systematically and objectively. He discovered the Moon’s craggy mountains, Jupiter’s four major Isatellites, and the phases of Venus. But that’s Galileo the scientist. Who was the man? To find some clues, I went to Rome and Florence, where Galileo spent the prime of his life and ended up under house arrest for life after a disastrous encounter with the Roman Catholic Church. I decided to retrace the master’s footsteps in Italy — to visit the places where he lived and worked in hopes of absorbing some- thing of the spirit of the times in the 17th century when Galileo helped Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was born in Pisa and taught mathematics at Padua. overturn what people thought they He lived in Florence after 1610, where he wrote his greatest scientific works. understood about the celestial realm. Science Museum Pictorial 56 Astronomy • May© 092010 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.Astronomy.com 1609 Galileo presents a telescope Astronomer and mathematician to the Venetian Senate, which Galileo Galilei lived portions of bestows on him life tenure at his life in Pisa and Padua, but he the University of Padua. considered himself a Florentine. 1592–1610 His scientific achievements at Chair of mathematics first drew acclaim and privilege at University of Padua, — but later brought him into Venetian Republic. 1610 conflict with Catholic doctrine Moves to Florence. and ended in humiliation and house arrest. Astronomy: Jay Smith 1588 Obtains lectureship in math- 1616 ematics at University of Pisa. On a visit to Rome, Galileo is cautioned not to “hold or defend” Copernican theory. 1631 Moves to Villa Il Gioiello in Arcetri near Florence. Experience 1564 Born in Pisa. 1642 Dies in Arcetri. 1638 Inquisition grants Galileo’s Italy permission for Galileo to move 1633 to Florence for February: Arrives in Rome health reasons. for trial by Inquisition of Rome. He is already com- pletely blind. June: Admits and abjures heretical beliefs at the Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva. December: Returns to villa at Arcetri under house arrest for life. Roman rendezvous baroque popes, they are mere shells gut- (1468–1549), the pope to whom Coper- Numerous people, such as the English ted for raw materials to furnish monu- nicus dedicated De revolutionibus orbium poet John Milton, began to beat their way ments and tombs. Even the Caesars and coelestium (“On the Revolutions of the to Galileo’s door even during the great popes who ruled here, whose power once Heavenly Spheres”). The 1543 treatise man’s lifetime. For logistical reasons — reached out across the known world, are detailing a Sun-centered cosmos cap- airport location — I started in Rome, lost in the accumulated wreckage of the tured Galileo’s imagination and ulti- where Galileo became a martyr for sci- ages. Yet it is possible to find traces of mately contributed to his downfall. ence. Lost among the strata and ruins of Galileo’s life within the walls of Vatican Paul III rests on one side of the Cathe- millennia, his footprints are barely trace- City, the sovereign state nested within dra Petri, an elaborate reliquary contain- able among those of the millions who Rome’s boundaries. ing a wooden chair purported (falsely) to have lived and died in the ancient city. St. Peter’s Basilica is among the Vati- be the throne of St. Peter. On the oppo- The Roman palaces of the Caesars and can’s most impressive monuments. site side of the Cathedra Petri molder the the temples of antiquity are melancholy Inside, I combed various tombs and remains of a critical player in Galileo’s ruins. Ransacked by the renaissance and eventually found the crypt of Paul III life: Maffeo Barberini (1568–1644). www.Astronomy.com 57 The grand columns in St. Peter’s Piazza in Rome and the high dome of St. Peter’s Basilica (background) convey the Vatican’s power in Galileo’s time. What the Florentine astronomer learned by looking through his crude telescope put him into a dangerous conflict with church doctrine. David J. Eicher St. Peter’s gilded interior is a treasure trove of art and architecture. In this photo, the church’s dome illuminates the vaulted halls below. David J. Eicher Barberini was once Galileo’s friend Galileo, heretic After meeting with Urban, Galileo and supporter. But after becoming Pope While within the walls of Vatican City, I thought he had received permission to Urban VIII in 1623, he demanded Galil- took a long look at its first observatory, write a book, Dialogue Concerning the eo’s prosecution for allegedly upholding often called the Tower of the Winds. Two Chief World Systems (1632), as long the Copernican theory, although really Established by Gregory XI, pope from as he didn’t hold or defend the Coperni- for disobedience to church authority in 1370 to 1378, the tower stands atop the can system. In the book, three characters an age of absolutism. Vatican Secret Archives where an infa- debate the merits of the Sun-centered Urban was not a lovable character. mous document was stored that would Copernican system versus that of the tra- When he died, the citizens of Rome, who later figure in Galileo’s downfall. ditional Earth-centered cosmos. had long sweated under the yoke of Galileo had come to Rome in 1611 But Galileo miscalculated by present- financing his construction projects and and triumphantly demonstrated the tele- ing Pope Urban’s own arguments in the wars, expressed their gratitude to him by scope to the Jesuits of the Collegio mouth of a dimwitted character named toppling one of his busts. Romano, who after months of trying had Simplicio. The offended pope unleashed In the Vatican Museums en route to finally confirmed his observations. He the Inquisition of Rome, which called the Sistine Chapel, I couldn’t resist pok- returned in 1616 to meet with Cardinal Galileo to the Vatican for trial in 1633. ing my head through some of the open Bellarmine, who warned him not to After waiting 2 months in the Villa windows into the gardens. I thought of “hold or defend” the literal truth of the Medici, the astronomer was finally the birds that Urban had ordered killed Copernican system. questioned by the Inquisitors. so they wouldn’t interfere with his sleep. In private, Bellarmine and the ruling Galileo was prosecuted on the basis of prince of Rome, Pope Paul V, were a questionable injunction retrieved from William Sheehan is an author, psychiatrist, and inclined to declare Copernicanism heret- the Vatican Secret Archives. Dating to amateur astronomer in Willmar, Minnesota. His ical. However, Cardinal Caetani and Bar- 1616, the document was neither signed latest book is A Passion for Planets, being pub- berini dissuaded them. When Barberini nor notarized. It claimed Galileo had lished by Springer during the International Year was elected pope, Galileo anticipated a agreed not to hold or defend the Coper- of Astronomy 2009. new golden era for liberal Catholics. nican theory or to discuss it, as he clearly 58 Astronomy • May 09 The Sistine Hall is part of the Vatican Library, one of the oldest collections The Jesuit Collegio Romano, or College of Rome, was a major center for of books and manuscripts in the world. Among its holdings are the exten- scientific research in Galileo’s day. In 1611, scholars at the college confirmed sive records of Galileo’s prosecution for heresy. David J. Eicher the accuracy of what Galileo saw through his spyglass. William Sheehan had in Dialogue. The Inquisition con- Galileo was born in Pisa February 15, Galileo later recalled the 18 years in demned Galileo on “vehement suspicion 1564, and later pursued his education at Padua as the happiest in his life. But he of heresy.” He remained under house the University of Pisa. Even then, the sci- was restlessly ambitious, and also at heart arrest until his death in 1642. entist in Galileo was blooming. He a Florentine. He had spent his teenage The persecution of Galileo was not reportedly began to consider the laws years in that Tuscan city and, in Septem- without precedent. A statue stands in the that govern the swing of a pendulum ber 1610, returned to stay there after Campo del Fiore in Rome, where in 1600 while observing the motions of a swing- being appointed Philosopher and Math- Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake ing chandelier in the town’s cathedral. ematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. for teaching heretical views such as the However, Galileo ran into the opposi- In Florence, one can easily imagine Copernican doctrine. tion of conservative scholars in Pisa. He Galileo strolling the city’s bustling streets, moved on to Padua, where he lectured in perhaps walking through the Piazza della Young Galileo’s Italy mathematics and made all the telescopic Signoria with its arrogant equestrian Rome was merely the stage on which observations of the Moon and Jupiter statue of the Grand Duke Cosimo I Galileo’s late downfall played out. He described in his 1610 book, Sidereus de’ Medici. One can picture him climbing spent most of his years in Pisa and Flor- Nuncius (“Sidereal Messenger”). the steps of the Palazzo Vecchio, the town ence, in the northern province of Tus- hall of Florence, to cany, and in Padua, then part of the demonstrate the tele- Venetian Republic.
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