The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena VI ASP Conference Series, Vol. 441 Enrico Maria Corsini, ed. c 2011 Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Galileo Through a Lens: Views of His Life and Work on Stage and Screen
Sidney Perkowitz Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Abstract. Centuries after he turned his telescope toward the skies, Galileo’s science and its implications, along with his life, continue to be examined in dramatic form. These representations on stage and on film, video and television screens show the im- portance of his legacy, and reveal what particular parts of his science endure in public understanding.
When Galileo Galilei first turned his telescopic lenses toward the skies in 1609, he set in motion a train of events that would lead the world to examine him and his science through its own lenses. That examination continues today. One way to understand what it reveals is to compare what Galileo actually did to how his life and work appear in dramatic works for stage and screen. Galileo’s astronomical observations are well known1. Among them, he discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter, saw the rough cratered surface of the Moon and spots on the Sun, saw (in blurred form) the rings of Saturn, and most important, observed that Venus displays phases, strong evidence for a heliocentric rather than an Earth-centered solar system. That last observation led to Galileo’s conflict with the received position of the Church in favor of a geocentric system. These achievements alone would ensure Galileo’s scientific importance, but he did something else that is less widely appreciated; he also apparently realized that a telescope and a microscope are not very different–each is an arrangement of two curved pieces of glass in a tube–and made microscopic observations or encouraged them to be made by others. There are no extant images of anything Galileo saw through a microscope, but several pieces of evidence indicate that he used the instrument2. His student John Wed- derburn wrote that Galileo was microscopically examining certain “minute animals” and “insects” as early as 1610. Later, in 1623, Galileo alluded to “a Telescope ad- justed to see objects very close up” in his book The Assayer. In 1624, Giovanni Faber, a member of the new scientific institution the Lincean Academy, wrote of Galileo’s demonstration of a fly magnified by his optical device, and Galileo sent the Academy’s
1See, e.g., R U, The Galileo Project, available at http://galileo.rice.edu/. 2D. F, The Eye of the Lynx, Chicago, University of Chicago, 2002; and see also I- M S S, Galileo’s Microscope Anthology which is available at http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/esplora/microscopio/dswmedia/risorse/anthology.pdf. 85 86 Perkowitz
Figure 1. Scenes from various stage productions of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo. founder a microscope with complete instructions on how to “see the tiniest things close up”. Few scientists have the opportunity to look at the universe at both large and small scales, nor to do work that strongly affects society and religion. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the world has turned its lenses on Galileo and his science by examining him in works for the theater, film, video, and television. Table 1 lists stage works about Galileo3 (also see Figure 1). The best known is Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo, considered the first play to portray a real scientist in a historical situation. It’s significant that the original play in German preceded the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, whereas the American version came after that event; correspondingly, Brecht portrays Galileo as a hero in the earlier version, but as an anti-hero in the later one as Brecht considers the social responsibility of scientists. Among the remaining works on the list, Tom Stoppard and Philip Glass are noteworthy contributors, showing the enduring power of Galileo’s story even into the 21st century. Table 2 lists works about Galileo4 or that use his name in film, video, and television (also see Figure 2). It’s remarkable that the film history dates back to 1909 (though the title for that effort Galileo, Inventor of the Pendulum is misleading; Galileo merely observed that the period of a pendulum is independent of its amplitude if the amplitude is not too large). Several of these works are film adaptations of Brecht’s play, including
3Based on K. S-B-H. L-B. S, Staging Science, The Graduate Cen- ter, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA. Details are available at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/sciart/StagingScience/staging science.htm#list. 4Based on research using the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) at http://www.imdb.com/. Galileo’s Life and Work on Stage and Screen 87
Figure 2. Scenes from Joseph Losey’s 1975 film version of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo.
the best known one, Joseph Losey’s 1975 version of the stage play he had directed earlier. Others take Galileo or his science in unexpected directions. The Japanese TV series Garireo (2007), for instance, is about a detective whose cleverness earns him that nickname in honor of the scientist. Baby Galileo Discovering the Sky (2003) is part of the Baby Einstein series meant for very young children. This particular video introduces babies to the universe using “twinkling stars and colorful planets” along with colors and music. Galileo: On the Shoulders of Giants (1998) gives Galileo a fictional young apprentice, providing a story about Galileo’s science and his troubles with the Church suitable for children aged seven and up. Dear Galileo (2009) is an especially interesting semi-metaphorical use of Gali- leo’s story. In this light-hearted Thai production, two college age girls leave their native Thailand for Europe, one to heal a broken heart and the other to recover from an aca- demic setback. Inspired by Galileo, they vow to visit his birthplace of Pisa. They also promise to remain together no matter what their differences, just as the two different objects that Galileo dropped from the Leaning Tower stayed together as they fell at the same rate. Viewing Galileo through these lenses gives a clear picture of his legacy in general, and in popular culture, after 400 years. The world well understands that he looked through telescopes, put the Sun in the center of the solar system, and got into trouble for it. He represents the scientist who seeks and states the truth even when it’s difficult to do so. Remarkably, his image as scientist and truth seeker is still considered powerful enough to inspire the young. However, the world seems unaware that Galileo also 88 Perkowitz
Table 1. Galileo through a dramatic lens: Stage works Life of Galileo, Bertolt Brecht (German version, 1943; American version, 1947) Galileo, Tom Stoppard (1970, unpublished)† The Genius, Howard Brenton (1982) Space, Tina Landau (1998) Star Messengers (opera), Paul Zimet and Ellen Meadow (2001) Galileo Galilei (chamber opera), Philip Glass et al. (2002)‡ Galileo’s Daughter, Timberlake Wertenbaker (2004) Galileo Walking Among the Stars, Em Lavik (2004) NOTES: †A response to Brecht’s play. ‡Based on Brecht’s play.
Table 2. Galileo through a cinematic lens: Film, video and television works (en- tries not otherwise described are films for theatrical release) Galileo, Inventor of the Pendulum (1909) Galileo (1911) Leben des Galilei (1947) aka Galileo† The Life of Galileo (1962 TV movie)† Galileo (1969) Galileo (1974) Galileo (1975, Joseph Losey)† Topo Galileo (1987) Galileo Galilei (1989 TV movie) Galileo (1994) Galileo (1997 video short) Galileo Smith Visits the Solar System (1997) Galileo: On the Shoulders of Giants (1998 TV movie) Galileo (1998 TV series documentary) Baby Einstein: Baby Galileo Discovering the Sky (2003 video short) Garireo (2007 TV series) aka Galileo Galileo Mystery (2007 TV series documentary) Dear Galileo (2009) Motel Galileo (2011) NOTE: †Based on Brecht’s play. looked through a microscope, but that did not produce the drama of his astronomical findings. Perhaps the most intriguing outcome, as shown by the film Dear Galileo, is that the world “knows” that Galileo dropped things off the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Although Galileo wrote of the experiment, historians agree that in all probability he never actually carried it out. Like Isaac Newton and the falling apple, this story has a mythical power that rivals the science itself–and that’s not a bad thing if it helps fix Galileo’s true achievements in people’s minds.