Galileo Exhibit Opens Friday in Florence: Art, Science, Astronomy, and Ancient Artetacts - Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope

(ANSA) - Florence, March 13 - A sweeping exhibition of art, scientific instruments, star maps and ancient artefacts opened in Florence on Friday, March 13 at Palazzo Strozzi celebrating conceptions of the cosmos and the groundbreaking discoveries of Galileo Galilei. 'Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope' promises a dazzling array of exhibits, carrying visitors on a voyage through centuries of ideas about the universe and the cosmos. The exhibit runs through August 30, 2009.

More than 250 precious objects are on display from an array of fields, with paintings, drawings, telescopes, star charts, archaeological finds, mosaics, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts and functioning cosmological models. The exhibition, a key event in international celebrations marking 400 years since Galileo's first observations of the night sky, is divided into eight sections.

The first looks back to the dawn of astronomy, focusing on Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and the Biblical cosmos. The second and third parts explore Ancient Greek conceptions of the cosmos, the spherical model developed by Plato and Aristotle and the geometrical vision of Ptolemy. The fourth, fifth and six parts respectively spotlight Islamic visions of the universe, their Christianization and the rebirth of astronomy with Copernicus and his sun-centred theory. The seventh section focuses on Galileo, featuring one of his two surviving telescopes, while the exhibition concludes with progress made by Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton in legitimising his theories.

Also on display will be the middle finger from Galileo's right hand, mounted on a marble base and encased in a crystal jar. The digit was removed from his body in 1737, nearly a century after his death, when his remains were exhumed from an unconsecrated grave and transferred to Florence's principal Franciscan church, the Basilica of Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross).

The general excitement surrounding the anniversary of Galileo's discoveries has also revived talk of a second exhumation. Last year, a team of Italian and British scientists said they had requested permission from the Catholic Church to open the mausoleum in order to carry out DNA tests. The researchers said they were seeking further information on the degenerative eye condition that eventually left Galileo blind, as well as confirmation that the remains of the woman sharing his tomb are those of his daughter.

Sister Maria Celeste, one of the scientist's illegitimate children with his long-time mistress Marina Gamba, was sent to a convent at age 13 but remained close to her father throughout her life. But the church's director, Father Antonio Di Marcantonio, said ''an official request of this nature has not been received''. ''Furthermore, I have always made it clear I am opposed to the idea,'' he said. ''I see no point in breaking a tomb to disturb the final rest of a figure of the past. ''Besides which, exhumations entail extensive bureaucracy, requiring permission both from the Church and Florence's Superintendent's Office''.

Galileo Galilei 400 Year Anniversary of Telescope and International Year of Astronomy

ANSA (Florence) - Events marking 400 years since Galileo Galilei's first landmark observations of the night sky kicked off in Florence, Italy, Thursday, part of global celebrations for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA).

The two-day official launch of IYA takes place in Paris but Tuscany will play a special part in the yearlong initiative as the birthplace and home of the 'father of modern science' - Galileo Galilei.

Galileo is called the father of modern science not because of his astronomy work, but because of how he approached the questions of the universe. Philosophers beginning with Aristotle concerned themselves with why things moved. Galileo focused on HOW things move through observations and measurements. Galileo sought quantifiable entities such as time, distance, and acceleration to describe the way everyday objects move, bend, break, and fall.

"Philosophy is written in this grand book the universe," Galileo said. "But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and to read the alphabet in which it is composed. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it."

Aristotelian philosophers of Galileo's day rejected this mathematical approach to physics, on the grounds that mathematicians pondered immaterial concepts, while Nature consisted entirely of matter. They viewed the study of mathematics as inferior—even irrelevant—to natural philosophy. Nature, in their view, could not be expected to follow precise numerical rules.

But Galileo was correct: "There will be opened a gateway and a road to a large and excellent science," he predicted, "into which minds more piercing than mine shall penetrate to recesses still deeper." Sir Isaac Newton, born within a year of Galileo's death, continued Galileo's work by codifing mathematical laws of motion and universal gravitation.

Posterity agrees that Galileo's great genius lay in his ability to observe the world at hand, to understand the behavior of its parts, and to describe these in terms of mathematical proportions. For these achievements, Albert Einstein dubbed Galileo "the father of modern physics—indeed of modern science altogether."

Speaking at the official inauguration ceremony, the president of Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), Tommaso Maccacaro, said the decision to hold the IYA in 2009 was perfect. ''There can be no doubt that 2009 was the right year to celebrate astronomy as it is exactly 400 years since Galileo made his first observations by telescope,'' said Maccacaro. ''These observations revolutionized our culture and our conception of the role of humankind within the universe''.

The biggest show of the year is a multimedia event at Florence's Palazzo Strozzi, opening in March, entitled 'Galileo: Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope'.

This will examine the history of conceptions of the cosmos, with archaeological finds, scientific instruments, star maps, drawings, paintings and precious manuscripts from around the world.

''The multidisciplinary nature of this show and the use of different multimedia will provide an absolutely first-rate experience for visitors,'' said Florence museum superintendent, Cristina Acidini.

''It will bring to life the instruments and models used by scientists that have studied the sky and the planets over the years''.

IYA will launch 'The Portal To The Universe' website, containing a host of news, photographs, videos and information open to everyone, allowing users to tap and share live data.

Galileo (1564-1642) created his first telescope in 1608, based on descriptions from the Netherlands where the device was invented.

He initially produced a lens able to magnify objects threefold and soon after created a lens with a magnification of 32.

This put him in a nearly unique position, as he was one of the few people at the time with a lens powerful enough to observe the sky.

He started making regular recorded observations in 1609 and in 1610, discovered three of Jupiter's moons. He initially thought they were stars but observing their changing position, soon concluded they were orbiting Jupiter.

Galileo later used his powerful telescope to observe the various phases of Venus.

Both sets of observations played a crucial role in his conclusion that the sun was at the center of the universe, rather than the Earth, as was commonly believed at the time.

Church opposition to Galileo's sun-centered model flared up immediately in 1612 and would dog Galileo for the rest of his life.

In 1633 he was tried and convicted of heresy and a ban was imposed on the publication or reprinting of any of his works. He was then placed under house arrest, where he spent the remaining nine years of his life.


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Galileo Revisited: May Faith and Science Co-Exist?

It is time to reconsider Galileo's great contribution to humanity in this year 2009 the 400th anniversary of Galileo's invention of the telescope.

While astronomy, like art, may seem the work of dreamers like Galileo, his invention of the telescope and subsequent contribution to man's understanding of the universe is integral to humanity's understanding of energy, space, time, and self.

Pope Benedict XVI stated Galileo the Italian astronomer and physicist helped the faithful better understand and "contemplate with gratitude the Lord's works."

In May, several Vatican officials will participate in an international conference to re-examine the Galileo affair, and top Vatican officials are now saying Galileo should be named the "patron" of the dialogue between faith and reason.

It's quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Galileo anniversary appears to be giving the Vatican new impetus to put the matter to rest. In doing so, Vatican officials are stressing Galileo's faith as well as his science, to show the two are not mutually exclusive.

At a Vatican conference last month entitled "Science 400 Years after Galileo Galilei," the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Galileo was an astronomer, but one who "lovingly cultivated his faith and his profound religious conviction."

"Galileo Galilei was a man of faith who saw nature as a book authored by God," Bertone said.

The head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, which co-sponsored the conference, went further. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi told Vatican Radio that Galileo "could become for some the ideal patron for a dialogue between science and faith."

He said Galileo's writings offered a "path" to explore how faith and reason were not incompatible.

There were plans earlier this year to give Galileo a permanent place of honor in the Vatican to mark the anniversary of his telescope: a statue, to be located inside the Vatican gardens, donated by the Italian aerospace giant Finmeccanica SpA.

Italian news reports that this statue has been canceled and suggested the Vatican simply didn't want to draw so much permanent attention to the Galileo episode, which 400 years on, still rankles some.

We at WebVisionItaly.com look to the heavens during this Epiphany 2009 seeing the planets Venus and Jupiter lined up with the Moon, which makes us think about Magi following the stars that lead them to the baby Jesus. Of course astronomy, science, God, and religion may co-exist we think. Yet as war rages between Israel and Palestine it is manifest how precious rational human civilization is. How precious each soul is. Peace to all.

Galileo's library recreated - Volumes that formed his personal collection on show

December 23 (WebVisionItaly.com) - In celebration of Galileo Galilei's (Galileo) invention of the telescope in 1608, 400 years ago, Florence has an exhibit of the books from Galileo's personal library, the books that shaped Galileo's mind.

The National Library of Florence is showcasing 70 volumes that were once part of the personal collection of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). The exhibit runs at the National Library of Florence until February 28. ''The material on display was selected from the Galileo collection stored in our library,'' explained library director Antonia Idea Fontana. ''They were the source of his research and bear witness to his successes but also show the polemics, the legal arguments and the trials linked to his work''.

Galileo was born in Tuscany and was known as the first Renaissance Man because of his studies of the humanites and varous subjects including astronomy, science, and mathematics.

Galilieo's library of books not only included scientific treatises but also copies of Dante's Divine Comedy, the romantic epic poem Orlando Furioso and works by Petrarch.

In addition to Galileo's library of books, the show also features a number of Galileo's scientific sketches, as well as original ideas and notes he jotted down while reading the various volumes. ''While this is not the first time these books have been displayed, the idea of reconstructing Galileo's personal library is completely new,'' added Fontana.

Galileo's telescope led to much trouble for the Tuscan visionary. With his powerful lens, the only one on earth at the time, Galileo studied the heavens. His discovery of three of Jupiter's moons and his observation of Venus's phases helped him rationalize that the sun was at the centre of the universe, rather than the Earth, as was commonly believed at the time.

Church opposition to Galileo's sun-centred model flared up immediately in 1612 and would dog Galileo for the rest of his life. An exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence until the end of December explores this discovery, showing the only two surviving telescopes created by Galileo, as well as dozens of original documents and instruments.