Galileos Daughter: A Historical
Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love
by Dava Sobel
Amazing Way To Read About Galileo
Everyone knows that Galileo Galilei dropped cannonballs off the leaning
tower of Pisa, developed the first reliable telescope, and was convicted by
the Inquisition for holding a heretical belief--that the earth revolved around
the sun. But did you know he had a daughter? In Galileos Daughter,
Dava Sobel (author of the bestselling Longitude) tells the story of the
famous scientist and his illegitimate daughter, Sister Maria Celeste. Sobel
bases her book on 124 surviving letters to the scientist from the nun,
whom Galileo described as a woman of exquisite mind, singular
goodness, and tenderly attached to me. Their loving correspondence
revealed much about their world: the agonies of the bubonic plague, the
hardships of monastic life, even Galileos occasional forgetfulness (The
little basket, which I sent you recently with several pastries, is not mine,
and therefore I wish you to return it to me). While Galileo tangled with

the Church, Maria Celeste--whose adopted name was a tribute to her
fathers fascination with the heavens--provided moral and emotional
support with her frequent letters, approving of his work because she knew
the depth of his faith. As Sobel notes, It is difficult today ... to see the
Earth at the center of the Universe. Yet that is where Galileo found it. With
her fluid prose and graceful turn of phrase, Sobel breathes life into
Galileo, his daughter, and the earth-centered world in which they lived.
--Sunny Delaney
Personal Review: Galileos Daughter: A Historical Memoir of
Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel
This remarkable book compactly and comprehensively ties together many
threads: Galileo's life, Galileo's scientific breakthroughs, Catholic Church
theology and superstition, life in Italy, and the relationship of Galileo to his
favorite child. The author weaves these together through the device of the
124 surviving letters that Galileo's eldest daughter Virginia sent to him from
the convent near Florence where she lived from the age of 15 to her early
death.
It's a singular story, starting with the man who revolutionized scientific
inquiry by emphasizing observable experience to support theory. That this
principle was developed by a person who believed unquestioningly in all of
the superstitions of the Catholic Church of his time makes it even more
remarkable. The author takes the reader into both the church and scientific
worlds, showing when they collided, as well as the mental gymnastics that
Galileo and others engaged in to try to reconcile irreconcilable views of
nature and the physical world.
As Galileo's fame peaks and then was shattered by the Church's censure,
his relationship with Virginia was a source of comfort and practical support.
The letters from Virginia (Galileo's letters were burned at the convent)
show her intellect, love for her father, and religious fervor. The letters read
almost as parodies of religious belief -- though, apparently, it's how people
thought at the time.
Example: Virginia lived in an exceedingly strict convent near Florence. She
entered the convent as a teenager and literally never left the property ever
again. One of the convent's proud principles was that its claustrophic stone
walls were the equivalent of Jesus' tomb. The girls entering the convent
were told: "You are, therefore, already now in your sepulchre of stone, that
is, your vowed enclosure."
One can only shake one's head and say, "What might have been..." if
people such as Galileo and his daughter were able to pursue their visions
more fully.
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