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Galileo's The Starry Messenger & Other Readings

Discussion Led by Scott Hildreth

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"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same god who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." -Galileo

Background Information

The Galileo Project Biography (1996) Rice University. Available online: http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/galilei_gal.html

Questions:

1) Have you ever looked through a telescope before?  Have you seen the Moon, or Jupiter, or Saturn?  What did you think, seeing it "live" for the very first time?

2) What do you already know about Galileo?

3) Is there a conflict between science and religion? 

Initial Activity:  Picture an Astronomer...

Reading Assignment

Text: Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, Stillman Drake (tr.), Anchor Books, New York. 1957.

Recommended Reading:

Sobel, Dava (1999) Galileo's Daughter. Walker & Co. (First Chapter available online at http://www.galileosdaughter.com/)

Electronic Resources

Galileo Galilei (2001) The Institute and Museum of the History of Science of Florence, Italy Multimedia Catalogue - Room IV. Available online at: http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=biografia&lingua=ENG&chiave=300251

Kusukawa, S. (1999) Galileo. Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Cambridge. Available online at: http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/galileo.html

Van Helden, A. (1996) The Galileo Project. Rice University. http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/

Siderius Nuncias (summary) (2001) High Altitude Observatory. (NCAL) Available online at: http://www.hao.ucar.edu/Public/education/bios/galileo.1.html

Siderius Nuncias (in latin) available online at: http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/galileo/galileo.sid.html

Information about Galileo's Telescope: Build a telescope like Galileo's!

Essay Questions

Drafts are due Monday, 12/5, to your tutor; before the Thanksgiving Break! Remember that submitting a draft on time is considered in your overall class assessment.

Final drafts are due a week later, Monday, 12/12.

The essay question handout was distributed to large group Tuesday, 11/29.

"I render infinite thanks to God for being so kind as to make me alone the first observer of marvels kept hidden in obscurity for all previous centuries." -- Galileo Galilei

Science News Links to Consider - November/December 2005

Hall, C. (2005) New technology eyes chemistry of vision 'Ridiculously fast' laser snapshots show how energy is harnessed by living systems.  San Francisco Chronicle, 11/11/05.  Available at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/11/BAGLPFMIQR1.DTL&hw=laser+eye&sn=001&sc=1000

Teaching Evolution in Mexico: Preaching to the Choir

Lazcano, Antonio (2005) Teaching Evolution in Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.  Global Voices of Science. Science Magazine. Available at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/310/5749/787.pdf