Court Scientists The Art of Experimentation in the Galilean Accademia del Cimento (1657-1667) © 2001-2002 Institute and Museum of the History of Science - Florence. All rights reserved. INDEX 1. THE HISTORY................................................................................................... 5 1.1. THE ORIGINS ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.2. THE ACCADEMIA AND MEDICI PATRONAGE................................................................. 6 1.3. THE ACCADEMIA’S SETTINGS ........................................................................................... 6 1.4. OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIES ...................................................................................... 8 1.5. CHRONOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 10 2. THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD............................................. 11 2.1. CRITICISING ARISTOTLE.................................................................................................. 11 2.2. MATHEMATICAL REASON ............................................................................................... 12 2.3. THE RECOURSE TO EXPERIMENT.................................................................................. 13 2.4. TESTING AND RETESTING .............................................................................................. 13 3. THE PROTAGONISTS ............................................................................. 14 3.1. THE PRINCES .................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.1. Ferdinando II de’Medici ........................................................................................................ 14 3.1.2. Leopoldo de’Medici ............................................................................................................... 15 3.2. THE SECRETARIES ............................................................................................................ 15 3.2.1. Alessandro Segni .................................................................................................................. 15 3.2.2. Lorenzo Magalotti................................................................................................................ 16 3.3. THE RESIDENT MEMBERS............................................................................................... 16 3.3.1. Giovanni Alfonso Borelli ...................................................................................................... 16 3.3.2. Carlo Roberto Dati .............................................................................................................. 17 3.3.3. Candido del Buono ............................................................................................................... 18 3.3.4. Paolo del Buono.................................................................................................................... 18 3.3.5. Alessandro Marsili............................................................................................................... 18 3.3.6. Antonio Oliva...................................................................................................................... 19 3.3.7. Francesco Redi...................................................................................................................... 19 3.3.8. Carlo Renaldini.................................................................................................................... 21 3.3.9. Vincenzo Viviani................................................................................................................. 21 3.4. MEMBERS BY CORRESPONDENCE .................................................................................. 22 3.4.1. Gian Domenico Cassini........................................................................................................ 22 3.4.2. Honoré Fabri ....................................................................................................................... 22 3.4.3. Robert Hooke....................................................................................................................... 22 2 © 2001-2002 Institute and Museum of the History of Science - Florence 3.4.4. Christiaan Huygens.............................................................................................................. 23 3.4.5. Athanasius Kircher............................................................................................................... 23 3.4.6. Henry Oldenburg.................................................................................................................. 24 3.4.7. Michelangelo Ricci................................................................................................................. 24 3.4.8. Nicolas Steno ....................................................................................................................... 25 4. THE QUESTION OF THE VACUUM ...................................... 25 4.1. THE VACUUM IN GREEK THOUGHT ............................................................................. 25 4.2. ABHORRENCE OF THE VOID........................................................................................... 26 4.3. TORRICELLI’S EXPERIMENT ............................................................................................ 27 4.4. THE ACADEMICIANS AND THE VOID ............................................................................ 27 5. SCIENCE AND ART.................................................................................... 28 5.1. THE CIMENTO’S INSTRUMENTS...................................................................................... 28 5.2. GLASS: BETWEEN ORNAMENT AND ART ..................................................................... 29 5.3. THE CIMENTO’S ARTISTS................................................................................................. 29 6. NATURALIST STUDIES......................................................................... 30 6.1. THE GENERAL PICTURE.................................................................................................. 30 6.2. STUDIES IN THE DIARY.................................................................................................... 31 6.3. STUDIES IN THE CORRESPONDENCE............................................................................. 31 6.4. AN EXTRAORDINARY DECADE...................................................................................... 32 7. METEOROLOGY ........................................................................................... 34 7.1. THE ACCADEMIA’S METEOROLOGY.............................................................................. 34 7.2. THE MEDICEAN METEOROLOGICAL NETWORK......................................................... 35 7.3. THE METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY...................................................................... 36 8. ASTRONOMY..................................................................................................... 39 8.1. TESTING THE STARS......................................................................................................... 39 8.2. THE COMPARISON OF TELESCOPES............................................................................... 40 8.3. THE STRANGE APPEARANCES OF SATURN ................................................................... 41 8.4. THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS OF TELESCOPES..................................................................... 42 9. THE EXPERIMENTS................................................................................ 43 3 © 2001-2002 Institute and Museum of the History of Science - Florence 9.1. PNEUMATICS ..................................................................................................................... 43 9.1.1. Barometric Experiment......................................................................................................... 43 9.1.2. Pascal’s Experiment ............................................................................................................. 45 9.1.3. The Magdeburg Hemispheres ................................................................................................ 46 9.1.4. The Bladder in the Void....................................................................................................... 47 9.1.5. The Smoke In the Void........................................................................................................ 48 9.1.6. The Sound in the Void......................................................................................................... 49 9.1.7. The Void In the Void.......................................................................................................... 50 9.2. METEOROLOGY................................................................................................................ 51 9.2.1. Thermometric Scales.............................................................................................................. 51 9.2.2. Comparing Thermometers...................................................................................................... 52 9.2.3. The Condensation Hygrometer ..............................................................................................54 9.3. LIQUIDS .........................................................................................................................