Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 25, 2009 - 05:29pm PT
|
400 years ago today, Galileo Galilei publicly demonstrated one of the first telescopes to the Venetian senate. He hadn't quite invented the telescope, by a year or two, but was one of the first to publicize its potential. He soon found the Galilean satellites of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, and sunspots, and thereby confirmed the Copernican (scientific) theory of the heavens. His Siderius Nuncio ("Starry Messenger") broadcast his discoveries and ideas throughout Europe, in 1610.
The world and the universe have been different places ever since.
Predictably, conservatives (in the form of the Catholic church) persecuted him for in effect attacking the existing order, and beginning the scientific revolution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/opinion/26iht-eddas.html?ref=global
Actually, maybe this isn't entirely OT. We all use cameras, some of us use binoculars, and Jody, Tom Evans, Karl Baba and others are keen on telescopes.
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2009 - 05:41pm PT
|
Spotting Scopes!
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2009 - 06:29pm PT
|
"I still say they move."
I wonder what they used for house arrest ankle bracelets BITD....
Yes, if it wasn't for telescopes a certain climber's grandfather wouldn't have told us about the canals on Mars.
|
|
Port
Trad climber
San Diego
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2009 - 06:45pm PT
|
Everyone needs to ask themselves if over the past 2000 years the church has gotten anything right.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Aug 25, 2009 - 06:47pm PT
|
Wasn't Percival Lowell WLP's great uncle, not grandfather?
|
|
Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2009 - 07:16pm PT
|
MH -
perhaps the most important of observations galileo made with his little telescope was that venus could be seen in crescent phase. The other observations that you mention help to dispel notions about perfect spheres in the heavens and showed that objects orbited at least one object other than the earth (the galilean moons around jupiter). The phases of venus showed that it orbited the sun.
|
|
jstan
climber
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2009 - 09:08pm PT
|
Brian:
Just back from working out so I haven't the steam to see what the article is. From now on I think I will always excerpt a sentence or two from all my citations.
Edit.
Very interesting. That people have been diligent and have calculated exactly what Galileo would have observed late in 1610. Thank you Brian.
"In 1985, Richard S. Westfall re-proposed the thesis that Galileo “stole” the prediction of the existence of Venus’s phases from his pupil, Benedetto Castelli. I shall call Westfall’s view the “dishonesty thesis”. 2 According to the dishonesty thesis, it was the following chain of events that led to the discovery of Venus’s phases.
The prediction of the existence of Venus’s phases was made by Castelli in a letter presumably received by Galileo on 11 December 1610. Castelli pointed out that if Copernican astronomy was true then Venus should display phases and asked Galileo if he had observed such a phenomenon. Galileo had not observed Venus yet, but instantly understood the significance of his pupil’s remark and on the spot decided to send Kepler a cipher announcing the discovery of Venus’s phases, thus securing his priority. 3
In this paper, I shall argue that the dishonesty thesis is untenable and propose two counter-arguments to it. The first is based on a mathematical reconstruction of Venus’s phase cycle during the crucial period spanning summer to winter 1610. The second is based on the significance of the question of celestial light. In Sections 2 and 3, I will present the first and second counter-arguments. In Section 4, I will briefly discuss some technicalities concerning the mathematical model used to simulate the evolution of Venus’s phase cycle. "
I am not intimately familiar with Galileo's present status. Should I wonder if there is not presently an attempt to besmirch Galileo's reputation for political purposes?
Disputes, even personal disputes, can live on for centuries.
Makes you wonder about us.
|
|
Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2009 - 09:10pm PT
|
Dryer air, earlier darkness, brighter stars -- the prime fall nights are coming.
I should get outdoors and reacquaint myself with the stars sometime soon.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 9 of total 9 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!