On the Life of Galileo - Annotated by Stefano Gattei (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first collection and translation into English of the earliest biographical accounts of Galileo's life, this unique critical edition presents key early biographical accounts of the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), written by his close contemporaries. Collected and translated into English for the first time and supplemented by an introduction and incisive annotations by Stefano Gattei, these documents paint an incomparable firsthand picture of Galileo and offer rare insights into the construction of his public image and the complex intertwining of science, religion, and politics in seventeenth-century Italy. Here in its entirety is Vincenzo Viviani's Historical Account, an extensive and influential biography of Galileo written in 1654 by his last and most devoted pupil. Viviani's text is accompanied by his "Letter to Prince Leopold de' Medici on the Application of Pendulum to Clocks" (1659), his 1674 description of Galileo's later works, and the long inscriptions on the facade of Viviani's Florentine palace (1702). The collection also includes the "Adulatio perniciosa," a Latin poem written in 1620 by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini - who, as Pope Urban VIII, would become Galileo's prosecutor - as well as descriptive accounts that emerged from the Roman court and contemporary European biographers. Featuring the original texts in Italian, Latin, and French with their English translations on facing pages, this invaluable book shows how Galileo's pupils, friends, and critics shaped the Galileo myth for centuries to come, and brings together in one volume the primary sources needed to understand the legendary scientist in his time.

Book Synopsis

The first collection and translation into English of the earliest biographical accounts of Galileo's life

This unique critical edition presents key early biographical accounts of the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), written by his close contemporaries. Collected and translated into English for the first time and supplemented by an introduction and incisive annotations by Stefano Gattei, these documents paint an incomparable firsthand picture of Galileo and offer rare insights into the construction of his public image and the complex intertwining of science, religion, and politics in seventeenth-century Italy.

Here in its entirety is Vincenzo Viviani's Historical Account, an extensive and influential biography of Galileo written in 1654 by his last and most devoted pupil. Viviani's text is accompanied by his "Letter to Prince Leopoldo de' Medici on the Application of Pendulum to Clocks" (1659), his 1674 description of Galileo's later works, and the long inscriptions on the façade of Viviani's Florentine palace (1702). The collection also includes the "Adulatio perniciosa," a Latin poem written in 1620 by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini--who, as Pope Urban VIII, would become Galileo's prosecutor--as well as descriptive accounts that emerged from the Roman court and contemporary European biographers.

Featuring the original texts in Italian, Latin, and French with their English translations on facing pages, this invaluable book shows how Galileo's pupils, friends, and critics shaped the Galileo myth for centuries to come, and brings together in one volume the primary sources needed to understand the legendary scientist in his time.

Review Quotes

"Well-documented, organized, and well-composed."---Erminia Ardissino, Sudhoffs Archiv

"This meticulous and thoroughly scholarly book should be on the desk of anyone wishing to trace the early career of Galileo's reputation."---W. R. Laird, Renaissance Quarterly

"Gattei's philological and translation work is impeccable and the volume is completed by a rich apparatus as well as numerous historical illustrations. A gem in the editorial market on Galileo."---Matteo Valleriani, Metascience

"This book is a major scholarly achievement and represents the first collection and translation into English of the earliest biographical accounts of Galileo's life . . . The book gives readers many fascinating key insights into Galileo's life, work and character."-- "Paradigm Explorer"

"This volume is a splendid contribution to Galileo's afterlife."---Eileen Reeves, Journal for the History of Astronomy

"Works by Galileo's seventeenth-century contemporaries, translated by Stefano Gattei, reveal at first hand the making of his myth in a tumultuous era."---Barbara Kiser, Nature

About the Author

Stefano Gattei is visiting associate in history at the California Institute of Technology and Dibner Fellow at the Huntington Library. He is the author of Thomas Kuhn's "Linguistic Turn" and the Legacy of Logical Empiricism and Karl Popper's Philosophy of Science. He is the coeditor of Physics and Philosophy, the fourth volume of Paul Feyerabend's collected philosophical papers.