There is an excitement that is palpable as I enter the room at Museo Galileo in Florence. Here in a display case on one side of the small room are the great man’s personal telescopes, the ones he built to observe the skies, helping to change astronomy as we know it. It’s an extraordinary feeling to be in the presence of something like this, and a reminder that the Renaissance isn’t just about art or architecture. Science, too, was forever changed as a result of the shift in mindset that the Renaissance delivered, and people like Galileo Galilei would forever alter both our understanding of the universe and the way in which the scientific process was conducted.
The word Renaissance literally means renewal or rebirth. It marked a return to a world reminiscent of Ancient Rome or Athens, one of public art, of major building projects, of scientific breakthroughs, and of philosophy more independent of religious influence. And it began here in Florence. From 1434 through the next two hundred years, the Renaissance would sweep from this relatively small city in northern Italy, and would envelop the world.
Galileo was born in Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence, in 1564. The Renaissance had been more than a hundred years old, so he grew up with many of its principal thoughts. He would have seen a return to public art (click here to read about Renaissance art) and classical revival architecture (click here to read about Renaissance architecture) in a Florence – and indeed a world by this point – in which the wealthy began to use some of their money and power to benefit society. Galileo moved to Florence at the age of ten, and it is here that the great man would come into his own.
If Renaissance means a return or renewal, it is necessary to talk about what scientific research was prior to this period in time, and what it was returning to. In the fourteenth century, on the cusp of the Renaissance, European science seemed to run on two major tracks. First, it was to understand man’s place in a strictly biblical universe, one of creationism with Earth at its center, and with an intelligent deity watching over it all. This was typically undertaken and funded by the Church. Second, the European royal families funded scientific research, mainly in the areas of military development and navigation as a means to expand their kingdoms and enrich themselves. Science was taught only so far as it enhanced one of these two aims.
While some of the initial Renaissance research would be along these lines, it would evolve into science for science’s sake, a purely intellectual activity designed simply to better understand the universe. Rulers like the Medici in Florence (click here to read more about the Medici) would fund this research despite the fact that it was unlikely to personally benefit them, and even if it ran counter to the aims of organized religion. This is something that hadn’t been seen on an organized level in Europe since Ancient Greek and Roman times.
Museo Galileo doesn’t just trace Galileo’s scientific discoveries. In fact, those are simply a sub-plot in the museum’s galleries. Rather, this amazing institution marks the progress of science from the Renaissance onward through the best collection of scientific instruments I have ever seen. It begins with navigational equipment, and the ages-long struggle to determine longitude, and some of the world’s first globes. It evolves into telescopes (enter our friend Galileo), microscopes, and early electrical equipment. It is a dizzying array of “stuff” marking the sciences from astronomy to pharmacology and everything in between, one assembled by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany as part of their efforts to make science approachable.
One of the stories associated with Galileo is that he noticed a chandelier swinging in the air currents in his home, and timed that with his heartbeat. Playing with it later, he realized that no matter how far it had to swing, it did so in the same amount of time, moving faster or slower based on that distance. He set up two pendulums of equal length, and set them to move at different speeds and distances, noticing that they kept time with each other. This basic discovery would be the beginning of keeping an accurate record of time.
Of course, Galileo is best known for his work in astronomy. His invention of the refracting telescope, which allowed a 7-8x magnification, both allowed for observations of celestial bodies, and for an income for the scientist, as he sold them to the elite of Italy. More importantly, his discovery of moons orbiting Jupiter with his telescopes directly refuted the Church-accepted principle that all things must orbit the Earth, confirming the findings of Nicolaus Copernicus, and leading to Galileo’s troubles with the Catholic Church.
By 1615, Galileo had published his theories, building on those of Copernicus, of heliocentrism, the sun being at the center of the solar system rather than the Earth. Church scrutiny of this theory, and the belief that it was done to spite the Pope, led to conflict. In 1633, Galileo was found guilty by the Inquisition, and sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. (He was originally ordered to be imprisoned, but it is thought that the rulers of Florence were able to get that punishment reduced.) His home, on a hill just south of the Arno, is marked by a simple plaque, and can be seen from the outside by those wishing a steep climb to the Belvedere Fortress just above.
Galileo would die in 1642, and his death would roughly coincide with the accepted end date of the Renaissance. In the centuries following, many (not all) of his theories would be confirmed, and even the Church would accept their mistake. He would even be buried inside the Catholic basilica of Santa Croce, with an ornate public tomb being constructed in 1737 after the controversy had blown over.
Galileo’s contributions to science extend far beyond his personal research. His creation of the personal telescope would mark the start of scientific instruments being available to first the elite, and then to the public at large. Before the Renaissance, this was something unheard of, as means to observe the universe were only in the hands of a mere few, and those specifically for the purposes mentioned earlier. More importantly, his method of observation without having a pre-determined outcome to “prove” would revolutionize the scientific process. (No, he was not the only one, but he is perhaps the best known.)
Galileo Galilei represents what the Renaissance is truly about: art, beauty, and science for their own sakes, rather than in support of an existing religious and social hierarchy. And here in Florence, the great man’s life and contributions can be observed and celebrated both for themselves and as they affected science throughout the world.
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