In a startling reinterpretation of Galileo's trial, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's prosecution and condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church but by the hostility of contemporary philosophers. Galileo's own beautifully lucid arguments are used in this volume to show how his scientific method was utterly divorced from the Aristotelian approach to physics; it was based on a search not for causes but for laws. Galileo's methods had an overwhelming significance for the development of modern physics, and they led to a final parting of the ways between science and philosophy. Now, in this extraordinary and concise introduction, Drake provides a stimulating view of Galileo's life and works, providing a fresh perspective on Galileo's methodology and his final incrimination. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Galileo: A Very Short Introduction

Biographies & Memoirs

Drake, Stillman

Leaders & Notable People

Oxford University Press

A brief profile focuses on Galileo's revolutionary approach to science and his trial before the Inquisition

Galileo (Past Masters)

Science & Math

This fascinating, scholarly study by one of the world's foremost authorities on Galileo offers a vivid portrait of one of history's greatest minds. Detailed accounts, including many excerpts from Galileo's own writings, offer insights into his work on motion, mechanics, hydraulics, strength of materials, and projectiles. 36 black-and-white illustrations.

Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography

University of Chicago Press

Looks at Galileo's life and accomplishments to establish his position as a man of science, describes his scientific work, and illuminates the relationship between his scientific studies and the philosophical and religious milieu of the period

Professionals & Academics

Univ of Chicago Pr

Uses a dialog between three friends to discuss Galileo's theories of buoyancy and the methods he used to reach those conclusions

Cause, Experiment, and Science: A Galilean Dialogue, Incorporating a New English Translation of Galileo's Bodies That Stay Atop Water, or Move in It

Uses a dialog between three friends to discuss Galileo's theories of buoyancy and the methods he used to reach those conclusions

Cause, Experiment, and Science

Mathematics

Publication of Galileo's Starry Messenger in 1610, detailing startling observations with the newly invented telescope, sparked immediate furor among the astronomers and philosophers of the day. The discovery of the "Medicean stars" (the satellites of Jupiter) was pronounced a hoax, an optical illusion, a logical and theological impossibility. Stillman Drake, one of the world's foremost Galileo scholars, recreates in Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics the fascinating aftermath of the publication of the Starry Messenger. Drawing on Galileo's scientific working papers and the letters and notebooks of his colleagues, Drake presents an imaginative Galilean dialogue using the text of the Starry Messenger as a departure point for discussions of appropriate scientific method, new discoveries, and the emergence of a new world view at this early stage of the Scientific Revolution. Drake has revised his earlier abridged translation of the Starry Messenger, and for the first time the entire work is presented here in modern English. No other edition or translation of this famous work has analyzed Galileo's recorded observations in detail, compared them with modern calculations, or explained the later use he made of them. In the accompanying fictional dialogue, Salviati, Sagredo, and Sarpi reread the Starry Messenger in 1613 and discuss events and issues raised in the three years since its publication. Much of the dialogue is based on archival materials not previously cited in English. Drake has unearthed a wealth of information that will interest the lay reader as well as the historian and the scientist—descriptions of the various and occasionally bizarre critics of Galileo, a reconstruction of Galileo's promised book on the system of the world, his tables of observations and calculations of satellite motions, and evidence for an early tide theory. It was this theory explaining tides by motions of the earth, rather than the influence of Platonic metaphysics, Drake argues that played a major role in Galileo's acceptance of Copernican astronomy. Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics is a thorough portrait of Galileo as a working astronomer. Offering much more than a commentary on the Starry Messenger, Drake has written a novel and absorbing contribution to the history of physics and astronomy and the study of the Scientific Revolution.

Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics: A Galilean Dialogue about The Starry Messenger and Systems of the World

Astronomy & Space Science

Two New Sciences is Galileos most important work, which established physics as a modern science. This edition is the authoritative translation by Stillman Drake and includes an insightful introduction into the context of Galileos work. This is one of the great classics of the history of science. htm

Two New Sciences: Including Centers of Gravity and Force of Percussion

Univ of Wisconsin Pr

The ideas of Galileo Galilei have had profound consequences for Western thought. In Galileo Studies, the distinguished scholar Stillman Drake presents his famous subject in a unique and insightful new light. Historians of science have traditionally concerned themselves with the continuities of medieval and modern thought, and with the evolution of physics and astronomy after Galileo's time. Such an approach has tended to obscure the elements of Galileo's work which were misconstrued or ignored by such later investigators as Bacon, Descartes, and Locke. A fictitious thinker is substituted for the real man. Stillman Drake's book offers a necessary complement to the historical approach, by focusing on the individuality of Galileo's creative work. With a view to placing the origins of modern science in better perspective, Drake examines Galileo's discoveries in isolation from a supposed continuity with the past and from analogies with later scientific developments. The aim is to see Galileo's work as he himself approached and evaluated it. Galileo's unique contributions are viewed against the intellectual backdrop of the age; and his scientific personality is revealed in his work with the telescope, his theory of the tides, and his dispute with the hidebound advocates of traditional science and philosophy.

Galileo Studies: Personality, Tradition, and Revolution - 1st Edition/1st Printing

Reference

The University of Michigan Press [1970]

This fascinating, scholarly study by one of the world's foremost authorities on Galileo offers a vivid portrait of one of history's greatest minds. Detailed accounts, including many excerpts from Galileo's own writings, offer insights into his work on motion, mechanics, hydraulics, strength of materials, and projectiles. 36 black-and-white illustrations.

Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography (Dover Phoenix Editions)

Dover Publications

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Drake, Stillman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Drake, Stillman

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Drake, Stillman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Galileo: A Very Short Introduction

Galileo (Past Masters)

Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography

Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography

Cause, Experiment, and Science: A Galilean Dialogue, Incorporating a New English Translation of Galileo's Bodies That Stay Atop Water, or Move in It

Cause, Experiment, and Science

Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics: A Galilean Dialogue about The Starry Messenger and Systems of the World

Two New Sciences: Including Centers of Gravity and Force of Percussion

Galileo Studies: Personality, Tradition, and Revolution - 1st Edition/1st Printing

Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography (Dover Phoenix Editions)