Galileo Galilei
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Books
Galileo's Daughter: A drama of science, faith and love by
Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate, 1999) £16.99
A new perspective on the life of Galileo through the correspondence of
his daughter, the nun Sister Maria Celeste. Check out our extract.
Galileo in 90 Minutes by John and Mary Gribbin (Constable, 1997).
Out of print; may be available from libraries or second-hand bookshops.
A potted history of Galileo from the leading physics popularisers.
Galileo in Rome: The rise and fall of a troublesome genius by
William R Shea and Mariano Artigas (Oxford University Press, 2003) £16.99
Galileo made six long visits to Rome in an attempt to get the Church on
his side, meeting the pope, high-ranking ecclesiastics and members of
the literary establishment as well as other scientists. This book offers
an account of what happened during these visits. In the end, Galileo overplayed
his hand and the outcome was his dramatic condemnation by the Church.
The Cambridge Companion to Galileo edited by Peter Machamer
(Cambridge University Press, 1998) £19.95
A collection of essays that take a serious look at the life and times
of Galileo.
Great Scientists: Galileo by Steve Parker (Belitha, 2002)
£10.99
A children's introduction to the scientist, his experiments and theories
and the opposition to them.
Websites
Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza: Galileo//thek@
http://moro.imss.fi.it:9000/struts-aig/
primoIngresso.do
The website of this Florence
museum claims to have a ‘complete collection
of Galilean web resources’, including text, images, documents, objects,
research tools. There is an English language version of this rather flashy,
unintuitive site.
The Galileo Project
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/
Rice
University in Texas provides the low-down on Galileo, with descriptions
of his experiments, a biography and a detailed chronology. A section on
Galileo's daughter contains translations (by Dava Sobel) of all 124 of
the letters written by her to her illustrious father from 1623 to 1633.
Galileo's Battle for the Heavens
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/galileo/
Excellent website from US public television, which accompanied
the American transmission of Galileo's Daughter. As well as a detailed
timeline and other goodies, there is an article by Dava Sobel –
telling why Galileo is the father of modern science – and a number
of interactive experiments.
Galileo’s compass
http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/esplora/compasso/
Part of the online museum within the website of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, this has an audio-visual presentation on the history of the compass, movable diagrams and simulations.
