Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems (Modern Library
Science) by Galileo
The Dialogues Of Galileo - With Modern Solutions
Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in
Florence in 1632, was the most proximate cause of his being brought to
trial before the Inquisition. Using the dialogue form, a genre common in
classical philosophical works, Galileo masterfully demonstrates the truth of
the Copernican system over the Ptolemaic one, proving, for the first time,
that the earth revolves around the sun. Its influence is incalculable. The
Dialogue is not only one of the most important scientific treatises ever
written, but a work of supreme clarity and accessibility, remaining as
readable now as when it was first published. This edition uses the
definitive text established by the University of California Press, in Stillman
Drake’s translation, and includes a Foreword by Albert Einstein and a new
Introduction by J. L. Heilbron.

Personal Review: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems (Modern Library Science) by Galileo
This is the famous book that got Galileo in trouble with the Inquisition.
Galileo Galilei was one of the greatest scientists of all time. In Galileo's
time the all powerful Catholic Church had decreed that the Earth was at
the center of the Universe and that all celestial bodies orbited the Earth.
The reasons given for this were Theological in nature, not scientific.
According to the Church the Earth was a special place in the Universe,
because God had chosen the Earth to be Man's home. By the sixteenth
century Science had progressed to the point where this view of the
Universe became increasingly untenable as it did not agree with
observations about planetary motion. To resolve the difficulties created by
these observations Copernicus had published from his deathbed a new
theory proposing that the planets moved around the Sun in nearly circular
orbits. Copernicus theory seemed to agree much better with what was
known at the time about planetary motion. Galileo being perhaps the
greatest scientist of his time immediately saw that the Copernican theory
must be right, and debated the matter with people holding the opposite
view at the University where he was a renowned professor, Mathematician
and Scientist. For a while debates, arguments and counterarguments
followed, until in July 1609 Galileo found the definitive proof that the
Copernican theory was right. The story has been recounted in the "Starry
Messenger" by Galileo. He had seen a toy sold by a Flemish spectacle
maker in Venice which made distant objects look like they were near.
Galileo bought the toy and did not rest until he had figured out how it
worked. He then turned the toy into a scientific instrument, and the first
telescope was born. Galileo soon turned his invention towards the
heavens, and he almost immediately made a number of groundbreaking
discoveries. When he observed Jupiter he noticed that Jupiter had Moons
just like the Earth had, and by observing the Moons of Jupiter and Jupiter
on successive nights he soon discovered that the Moons of Jupiter clearly
orbited Jupiter, not the Earth, as they were supposed to by the Ptolomaic
theory taught by the Church. This was the definitive proof that the
Ptolomaic theory was just plain wrong. He started to teach this but trouble
soon ensued. Galileo had been ordered by the Church that he could not
discuss the Copernican theory except as a Hypothesis. When Pope Urban
VIII became the Pope Galileo was greatly encouraged, because as
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini prior to being elected Pope Urban VIII, he had
been a great admirer of Galileo. When the new Pope was elected, Galileo
had an interview with him and was told that he could teach the
Copernican theory, but only as a Hypothesis, and he was not allowed to
teach it as the "objective truth". In 1632 Galileo published this great book
in which he debated the two systems between three protagonists. One of
them called Simplicio (roughly simple-minded) was defending the
Ptolomaic Theory and two others called Salviati and Sagredo defended the
Copernican view. All the various arguments that had been offered by
Simplicio for the Ptolomaic theory were demolished skillfully one by one
by the clever Salviati and Sagredo. Unfortunately Urban VIII got furious,
because some of his own arguments ended up in the mouth of Simplicio.

He felt that Galileo had made a fool of him, and so he ordered the
Inquisition to summon Galileo and he was tried and convicted of Heresy.
Galileo protested that he followed the injunction he had been given, and
only taught the Theory as a Hypothesis, but the Inquisition's powerful
judges did not accept his argument and convicted him. He was placed
under house arrest at his own home, and was forced under the threat of
being burned alive, to renounce his theories, which he did. His book was
banned, but it was too late. It had already become a best seller, and it
soon would be published in translation in foreign lands where the Pope
had no power. Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems thus changed History. It has also great relevance to today's
World. The religious fanatics of today behave much the same way as the
Inquisition had in Galileo's time. They bring forth Theological arguments
where science is called for. An example of this is the debate about
Darwin's theory of Evolution and natural Selection, the basis for most of
modern Biology. In spite of absolutely overwhelming scientific evidence in
favor of Darwin, ignorant people today still try to discredit Darwin's Theory
on essentially Theological not scientific grounds. Evidently, just like the
people opposing Galileo who did not succedd, similarly the ignorant
Inquisitors of today will not succed. Another example in the modern World
are the attempts of the Islamic fascists, who like the Inquisitors in Galileo's
time try to force their despicable religious agenda on others by imposition
and violence. They will not succeed either, for in the end Reason and
Science always prevail.
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