Galileo
03-25-2009, 04:53 PM
Breaking News! 'Ghost' Biography of Galileo Re-Discovered After 180 Years!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Rediscovering Galileo: A Georgia State Historian Uncovers the Astronomer's First Biography and New Secrets of his Trial
Lisa Jordan Spires, University Relations
In the smoky dawn of Sept. 5, 1666, as Londoners surveyed the damage of their still-smoldering city, no one was thinking about a book that would one day become the stuff of legend among Galileo scholars.
The Great Fire of London crippled the city and its fledgling publishing industry, and author Thomas Salusbury’s "Galilaeus Galilaeus His Life: In Five Books" was one of the more devastating casualties. All but one copy of the first biography of famed Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, written just 20 years after his death, had gone up in flames.
It was the beginning of a mysterious journey for the book, a journey that would take it to a private library in a medieval castle, where it would drop off the radar for nearly 200 years — that is, until Nick Wilding, an assistant professor of history at Georgia State, rediscovered the book and its new explanation for the motivations behind Galileo’s trial.
The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield
By late 2004, Shirburn Castle stood unoccupied behind a mostly dried-up moat, plaster chipping off its facade to reveal the original stone underneath. Inside was one of the most impressive collections of scientific books in the world, a library containing more than 12,000 volumes.
Shirburn’s tenant, the Ninth Earl of Macclesfield, had just been evicted following a lengthy family dispute over the castle’s fate, and auction house Sotheby’s had been called in to catalog and sell the collection.
The sole copy of Salusbury’s biography of Galileo, long rumored to be in the collection, had been searched for many times since the 1880s but never found. Galileo scholars Antonio Favaro and Stillman Drake, men who had devoted their lives to documenting the scientist’s history, writing more than 300 articles between them, had each conducted an extensive search of the castle, but neither had turned up the volume. Drake had even gone as far as to produce a facsimile edition hypothesizing what Salusbury’s book might have looked like."
It had always been missing; there had been a hole exactly the right size on the shelf," Wilding said.
READ THE REST:
http://www.cas.gsu.edu/storycache/pdf/308Rediscover.pdf
Galileo Watches Retail for $86,000!
Got any spare cash laying around? Do you work for AIG? If so, you may want to buy yourself a Galileo wristwatch!
Ulysse-Nardin Complications Astrolabium G. Galilei
This Ulysse-Nardin Astrolabium G. Galilei watch in yellow gold features a 41mm case, blue and white dial, gold roman bezel and a Crocodile strap. The Ulysse-Nardin Astrolabium Galilei also features a automatic movement with sun and moon phases, day, and date. This watch is water resistant to 30 meters. Water resistant up to 30 m. Screwdown crown and Sapphire crystal. Diameter is 40.00mm. Ref 991-22.
Model Number: 991-22
Price: US $86,000.00Suggested Retail Price.
SEE THE GALILEO WATCH:
http://www.vialuxe.com/Ulysse-Nardin-Complications-Astrolabium-G-Galilei-991-22/Watch/847
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Rediscovering Galileo: A Georgia State Historian Uncovers the Astronomer's First Biography and New Secrets of his Trial
Lisa Jordan Spires, University Relations
In the smoky dawn of Sept. 5, 1666, as Londoners surveyed the damage of their still-smoldering city, no one was thinking about a book that would one day become the stuff of legend among Galileo scholars.
The Great Fire of London crippled the city and its fledgling publishing industry, and author Thomas Salusbury’s "Galilaeus Galilaeus His Life: In Five Books" was one of the more devastating casualties. All but one copy of the first biography of famed Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, written just 20 years after his death, had gone up in flames.
It was the beginning of a mysterious journey for the book, a journey that would take it to a private library in a medieval castle, where it would drop off the radar for nearly 200 years — that is, until Nick Wilding, an assistant professor of history at Georgia State, rediscovered the book and its new explanation for the motivations behind Galileo’s trial.
The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield
By late 2004, Shirburn Castle stood unoccupied behind a mostly dried-up moat, plaster chipping off its facade to reveal the original stone underneath. Inside was one of the most impressive collections of scientific books in the world, a library containing more than 12,000 volumes.
Shirburn’s tenant, the Ninth Earl of Macclesfield, had just been evicted following a lengthy family dispute over the castle’s fate, and auction house Sotheby’s had been called in to catalog and sell the collection.
The sole copy of Salusbury’s biography of Galileo, long rumored to be in the collection, had been searched for many times since the 1880s but never found. Galileo scholars Antonio Favaro and Stillman Drake, men who had devoted their lives to documenting the scientist’s history, writing more than 300 articles between them, had each conducted an extensive search of the castle, but neither had turned up the volume. Drake had even gone as far as to produce a facsimile edition hypothesizing what Salusbury’s book might have looked like."
It had always been missing; there had been a hole exactly the right size on the shelf," Wilding said.
READ THE REST:
http://www.cas.gsu.edu/storycache/pdf/308Rediscover.pdf
Galileo Watches Retail for $86,000!
Got any spare cash laying around? Do you work for AIG? If so, you may want to buy yourself a Galileo wristwatch!
Ulysse-Nardin Complications Astrolabium G. Galilei
This Ulysse-Nardin Astrolabium G. Galilei watch in yellow gold features a 41mm case, blue and white dial, gold roman bezel and a Crocodile strap. The Ulysse-Nardin Astrolabium Galilei also features a automatic movement with sun and moon phases, day, and date. This watch is water resistant to 30 meters. Water resistant up to 30 m. Screwdown crown and Sapphire crystal. Diameter is 40.00mm. Ref 991-22.
Model Number: 991-22
Price: US $86,000.00Suggested Retail Price.
SEE THE GALILEO WATCH:
http://www.vialuxe.com/Ulysse-Nardin-Complications-Astrolabium-G-Galilei-991-22/Watch/847