Comments on: The Galilean Revolution, 400 years later

By: Starry-Eyed

Starry-Eyed — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:59:54 +0000

[...] The Galilean Revolution, 400 years later (blogs.discovermagazine.com) [...]

By: Giant’s Shoulders « The Renaissance Mathematicus

Giant’s Shoulders « The Renaissance Mathematicus — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:27:26 +0000

[...] complete the list of scientific revolution greats, the 7th of January saw the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s discovery of the moons of Jupiter celebrated by Phil the Bad Astronomer. Even the biologists took some time off to acknowledge this [...]

By: Ray Moscow

Ray Moscow — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:08:39 +0000

Even if Phil recants, surely he should serve the rest of his life under house arrest as Galileo did. It’s only fair, since in his scientific arrogance Phil has no doubt offended the Church many times.

By: dave brown

dave brown — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:23:16 +0000

#47. I think you meant that Phil should RECANT of that statement

By: Ray Moscow

Ray Moscow — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:42:11 +0000

“Of course, the Church wasn’t thrilled with this, though I suspect they might have rolled with it if Galileo hadn’t been such an arrogant jerk and published a manuscript insulting the Pope, a man who used to be his friend and supporter.”

Boo — you’re blaming the victim here, Dr. Phil. This is not up to your usual standards. You should retract this statement.

By: Jupiter’s manen | Computertaal

Jupiter’s manen | Computertaal — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:01:45 +0000

[...] en Callisto. Daarna onderzocht Gallileo de kraters op de maan, de zon en nog een aantal andere hemelse [...]

By: Robert Taylor

Robert Taylor — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:56:33 +0000

I remember when I first viewed the moon through my new 20X binoculars about 30 years ago and thinking “This must have been what Galileo saw”. Actually, Galileo might have killed for the quality of the coated optics that I was using.

By: tom swift

tom swift — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:15:58 +0000

We don’t know what telescope G. used in his observations of the Jovian moons. He mentions an instrument of about 33x in Sidereus Nuncius, but there is no claim or evidence that he was using it in Jan. 1610. He does say that in order to see the things described in Sidereus Nuncius a telescope of at least “400 power” (what we would call 20x) is needed, implying that he used such a telescope to see them himself, although such an instrument is NOT explicitly described in S.N..

Even worse, from Galileo’s scanty description of the instrument he was using for the observations of Jupiter, it’s clear that the objective was astigmatic. None of the three surviving objective lenses in the Florence Museum of Science which are attributed to Galileo are astigmatic, even though one lens is in an 18th century frame, with an inscription claiming it to be the actual lens used during the discovery of the “Mediciean stars”. So THE telescope has, so far as we know, not survived.

Too bad. Galileo’s realization that these “stars” were actually moons orbiting another “star” was indeed a great moment in intellectual history.

By: Brian Darvell

Brian Darvell — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:24:20 +0000

This is a great little article from Bad Astronomy on the significance of today is cosmology circles. People could do worse than paying a little more respect to the impact that early pioneers in the stargazing past had on how we view things today. It’s a shame that most of the people I talk to barely know Galileo (“that space guy”) and usually have not heard of Copernicus or Kepler.

By: dre in the morning » Blog Archive » Facebook Meme in Real Time

dre in the morning » Blog Archive » Facebook Meme in Real Time — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:59:33 +0000

[...] The Galilean Revolution, 400 years later Four hundred years ago tonight, a man from Pisa, Italy took a newly-made telescope with a magnifying power of 33X, pointed it at one of the brighter lights in the sky, and changed mankind forever. (discover) [...]