Galileo Galilei

But then when, you know, this was a time when science had so undermined traditional religion.

I mean, that's the history of science, right? Whether it's Galileo or Copernicus or Newton or Darwin, it's challenging the teachings of traditional religion.

And Darwin had come along not that long before this.

And so a lot of people really felt alienated, I would say.

Uncomfortable, of course, but as I told you, it works much better than those of the competition.

Many scientists before him, including Galileo himself, had pointed their lenses towards infinity, trying to bring what is incredibly great to us human beings.

Anthony does the exact opposite.

He, with his lenses, because he will build hundreds in his life, He prefers, instead, to look at what is invisible to the naked eye, to reveal the incredibly small to people.

The beginnings of the scientific movement were confined to a minority among the intellectual elite.

In a generation which saw the Thirty Years' War and remembered Alva in the Netherlands, the worst that happened to men of science was that Galileo suffered an honorable detention and a mild reproof before dying peacefully in his bed.

The way in which the persecution of Galileo has been remembered is a tribute to the quiet commencement of the most intimate change in outlook which the human race had yet encountered.

Since a babe was born in a manger, it may be doubted whether so great a thing has happened with so little stir.

The thesis which these lectures will illustrate is that this quiet growth of science has practically recolored our mentality so that modes of thought which in former times were exceptional are now broadly spread through the educated world.

There had been some progress in medicine and some progress in astronomy.

But the total advance was very little compared to the marvellous success of the 17th century.

For example, compare the progress of scientific knowledge from the year 1560, just before the births of Galileo and of Kepler, up to the year 1700, when Newton was in the height of his fame, with the progress in the ancient period, already mentioned exactly ten times as long.

He was the counter-reformation.

Why did it take, by the way, after having all these accomplishments under his belt, after having no equal and a life of complete piety, why did it take three centuries to have him canonized? Enter in Galileo.

One of two things happened.

One version of the story of how Robert interacted with Galileo that history was told, and another that wasn't really known until the 19th century where we have contemporary documentation.

Before we start today's episode, I want to tell you about a sponsor that I have handpicked for this show.

Ashley and I have a large family.

So things like the art of dying well, the point is, is he was a spiritual master of his own.

Before that, he had the mind's ascent to God, which is kind of an intellectual, scientific look at the way that the mind uses.

But it must be recognized that if in many respects Bacon is in advance of contemporaries who cannot be dissociated from the Renaissance, in other respects, such as belief in astrology and dreams, he stands on the same ground, and in one essential point, which might almost be taken as the test of mental progress at this period, Bruno and Campanella have outstripped him.

For him, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo worked in vain.

He obstinately adhered to the old geocentric system.

It must also be remembered that the principle which he laid down in his ambitious program for the reform of science, that experiment is the key for discovering the secrets of nature, was not a new revelation.

These conversations, though they show no dramatic power and are simply a vehicle for the author's satirical criticisms on life, are written with a light touch and are full of surprises and unexpected turns.

The very choice of the interlocutors shows a curious fancy which we do not associate with the geometrical intellect.

Descartes is confronted with the third false Demetrius, and we wonder what the gourmet Apicius will find to say to Galileo.

2.

Three, four, open the door." The boy caught Greg's sleeve.

"You might as well blame Galileo or Copernicus because they studied the universe.

Or go back to the beginning, blame the unknown who did our first scientific pioneering." Copernicus and Galileo? What was the kid trying to say? And why would a twelve-year-old speak so glibly, so unknowingly of the giants? That proved his alienness.

When Greg was twelve, the only thing he had thought about seriously was football or baseball or summer vacation, or how he was going to get out of the piano lessons his mother imposed on him.

The boy pulled him to a stop.

Interesting.

We have one more original musical to talk to you about coming to Broadway, which is at the Sam S. Schubert Theater, and that is Galileo, with the first preview of November 10th, opening night December 6th, with a synopsis that reads, When maverick scientist Galileo Galilei makes celestial observations that challenge humanity's understanding of the universe, he's summoned to Rome to defend his discoveries before the most powerful religious institution in the world, one that's facing a rebellion of its own.

Wow.

Wow.

You know, Io is one of what we call the Galilean moons.

It was discovered by Galileo.

Oh, by the way, when he saw Jupiter had four moons visible to his telescope that went around Jupiter, he tracked them.

He said, wait a minute, if they go around Jupiter, It means they're not going around us.