Galileo's Lost Message
Page 31
Historical Characters
Cesar Cremonini may have been one of the models for Galileo’s Simplicio in Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Although regarded as the most acclaimed philosopher of his time, his oeuvre has not stood the test of time. Cremonini, who died in 1631, is today remembered most often for the fact that he refused to look through Galileo’s telescope.
Federico Cesi’s life was tragically cut short prematurely in 1630. Although the initial incarnation of the Lincean Academy did not survive his death, The Lynxes are now considered to be the oldest extant scientific academy on Earth, thus ensuring Cesi’s place in history.
Galileo Galilei passed away at the age of 77 at Il Gioiello in Arcetri on January 8, 1642. He was blind, incontinent, and suffering from a number of maladies including a debilitating hernia at the time of his death. As he was a condemned heretic, there was no funeral. His body was stored in a small antechamber within the Santa Croce for nearly a century. His remains were moved to the magnificent tomb that he rests in today in the year 1737. Galileo’s Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems remained banned by the Catholic Church until 1835. Although Galileo has never been formally pardoned by the Catholic Church, in 1987 Pope John Paul II admitted that errors had been committed by the Catholic Church in the trial of Galileo.
Giordano Bruno remains to this day an enigmatic and largely misunderstood person in the history of Italia. His theories were perhaps too far ahead of his time. There is a statue of him today in the Campo dei Fiori in downtown Roma, the site where he was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600.
Maffeo Barberini (Pope Urban VIII), the pope who thought that he was the model for Simplicio in Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, eventually forgave Galileo, sending papal blessings to Galileo in the final days of Galileo’s life. He outlived Galileo by only two and a half years, passing away on July 29, 1644. In the last years of his papacy he started wars, stole the bronze girders from the Pantheon to make the baldaquin in St. Peter’s Basilica, and increased the papal debt by more than a hundred percent. When he died the people of Roma rejoiced.
Michelangelo Galilei, Galileo’s younger brother, became a renowned composer and lutenist, but never managed to overcome his financial difficulties. He died destitute in 1631.
Roberto Bellarmino died in Roma on September 17, 1621. He was canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. His remains are displayed within a glass case in the Church of St. Ignatius.
Vincenzo Galilei refused to accept the ancient musical theories of Pythagoras, performing his own experiments (together with his son Galileo) on the relation between tone, string length and tension. In so doing he created what is arguably the first nonlinear theory of physics in history. Vincenzo died in Firenze in 1591.
Vincenzo Maculano later rose to the rank of Cardinal, at least in part due to his stern handling of the Galileo Inquisition. He rose to become Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1652. He died in 1667 and was buried in the Basilica of Santa Sabina at the Aventine.
John Milton became one of the greatest writers in the English language. Throughout his life he wrote passionately about personal freedom, referring often to Galileo. His greatest work, Paradise Lost, was composed after he went blind in 1654. He died in 1674 in London.
Isaac Newton spent his entire career at Cambridge. In 1687 he published the book Principia, considered by many to be the most important scientific book ever written. He was known to state that Galileo had been a great influence on him. Newton died in Kensington in 1727.
Vincenzo Viviani, Galileo’s aide at the time of his death, edited the first edition of Galileo’s collected works in 1656. In 1660 he and Giovanni Borelli measured the speed of sound. In 1661 he experimented with the rotation of pendulums, an experiment later perfected by Foucault. In 1666 he was appointed court mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Viviani died in 1703 at the age of 81, ever faithful to his mentor. In 1737 the tomb of Galileo was built with funds provided by Viviani at his death. Vincenzo Viviani is today buried together with his beloved Professore Galileo Galilei in the magnificent tomb in the Santa Croce.
Fictional Characters
Contessa Antonietta Floridiana da Vinci wrote a travelogue for Italian tourists using her new-found knowledge of her country. She lives today at her villa in Arcetri.
Giovanni Bazzocchi (the elder) continues to live a garrulous existence in Ravenna, along with his wife and sons.
Inspector Bustamente, having disposed of one of the most notorious Mafia families in Italy, rose to the rank of Chief of Police of Firenze. He lives to this day in Firenze.
Marco Vincenzo da Vinci became the Count Floridiana after the death of his father. He subsequently moved to the United States, where he studied finance at the University of Cleveland. He lives today in Miami, Florida.
Paul Woodbridge subsequently wrote a historically based novel about the life of Galileo. Shortly after the reopening of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in December, 2001, Paul and Antonietta climbed it together.
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Selected Readings
Dialogues Concerning The Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei
Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei
Galileo by Stillman Drake
Galileo at Work by Stillman Drake
Galileo A Life by James Reston, Jr.
Principia by Isaac Newton
Renaissance Genius Galileo Galilei & His Legacy to Modern Science by David Whitehouse
The Man of Numbers Fibonacci’s Arithmetic Revolution by Keith Devlin
De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium by Nicolaus Copernicus
The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book is Revealing the True Genius of
Antiquity’s Greatest Scientist by Revel Netz and William Noel
Mysteries of the Middle Ages and the Beginning of the Modern World by Thomas Cahill
Tycho and Kepler The Strange Partnership that Revolutionized Astronomy by Kitty Ferguson
The Book Nobody Read Chasing the Revolution of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich
A World Lit Only by Fire – The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance by William Manchester
Tilt - A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa by Nicholas Shrady
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel
The Feud that Sparked the Renaissance by Paul Robert Walker
La Géométrie by Rene Descartes
Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
Engineers and Engineering in the Renaissance by William Parsons
A History of Mechanics by Rene Dugas
The Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein by George Gamow
Heavenly Intrigue by Joshua and Anne-Lee Gilder
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
History of the Strength of Materials by Stephen Timoshenko
Sprezzatura 50 Ways Italian Genius Shaped the World by Peter D’Epiro and Mary Desmond
How Mechanics Shaped the Modern World by David H. Allen
About the Author
D. Allen Henry is a freelance writer who is also the author of Hawk Banks, Those Who Fought for Us, My Father the God, Of War and Women, Enlisting Redemption and Finding Patience. The author welcomes comments regarding any of his novels. His website is located at http://dayhahaha.wix.com/dallenhenry, and his Facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/dallen.henry . You may provide feedback to the following e-mail address: dallenhenry@hotmail.com. If you enjoyed Galileo’s Lost Message, please be so kind as to provide a review of it on the website from which you acquired this book.
Novels by
D. Allen Henry
Galileo’s Lost Message – © 2016
When Professor Paul Woodbridge receives a call from Contessa Antonietta Floridiana, she queries, “Suppose Galileo wrote a secret encoded message at the end of his life. Would the professor perhaps be able to decode it?” The quest for the solution to Galileo’s
Lost Message will lead the pair on a search across Italy that is destined to profoundly alter the course of humankind.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/155956
Hawk Banks – Founding Texas (revised edition) – © 2014
Pairing up with Texas frontiersman Hank MacElrae, the inimitable Bostonian Hawk Banks sets off in quest of adventure on the Plains of Texas. A distinctly incompatible pair, the two manage to make their unlikely friendship work and, enduring all manner of unlikely events, they succeed in finding their way into the heart of Texas, becoming founding fathers of a new nation.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/448831
The Sutherland Saga
Part I: Those Who Fought for Us – © 2015
On the eve of World War I, Elizabeth Turnberry and her friend Margaret MacCreedy meet fellow students Robert Sutherland and Alastair Stewart in a pub in Edinburgh. And, although the future seems bright, the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 will destroy all their hopes and dreams. Is there hope at all for those who fought for us?
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/535009
Part II: Of War and Women – © 2015
On the eve of the Battle of Britain a farewell party is held for the 93rd Squadron at Wharton Manor, and though World War II will subsequently intervene, events of that night will echo down through history, changing the lives of those present forever. Unfairly maligned, one woman will persevere, but for all her accomplishments, will Felicité succeed?
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/536530
Part III: Enlisting Redemption – © 2015
When twenty-one year old college student Trevor Sutherland enlists Rebecca Carey in a birthday party performance, it leads to a heinous crime. Her subsequent disappearance will ultimately send Trevor on a decade long quest for redemption, one fraught with intrigue, deception, and ultimately murder.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/540538
Part IV: Finding Patience – © 2015
When Patience Walker is kidnapped on a cold winter’s night, her life is changed forever. Having met her on that very day, Brandt MacCauley takes on the challenge of finding her. Spanning fifteen years, his quest will not only change both of their lives, it will ultimately alter the course of history.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/543390
My Father the God – © 2015 (sequel to Those Who Fought for Us)
Having completed his first year at Hanford University, Scotsman Sloan Stewart begins the summer of 1941 working at The Orchard Inn with his friends James, Isolde and Sabrina. But entanglements inevitably lead to a shocking event, one that will transform each of them irrevocably through war, peace, and ultimately, the remainder of their lives. Can they ever surmount the errors of their youth?
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/538259