h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Galileo Galilei – Father of Modern Science - A59770902
Author: Galaxy Babe - U128652

"...but the girls went with their father when he moved to Florence..."
So did he split up from his partner at that point, or were they together but living seperately? I don't know if it's necessary for the text but I'm interested!

"Galileo ... made mistakes ... that the Sun must rotate. ... but it was indeed true."
If you are stating that Galileo made mistakes, could we have an example of a mistake rather than something that is true?
Perhaps the hits and misses statement doesn't belong here if you're trying to highlight some of the things he did right.

"Galileo produced a book with a flawed proof that the Earth moved based on an incorrect explanation of the tides."
Did the Pope know it was flawed, or is that something that we have discovered later?

Footnote 6 - Pope Urban VIII threatened tobacco smokers with excommunication on account of their sneezing sounded like sexual ecstacy.
This phrase doesn't quite read right for me - perhaps 'sounding' rather than 'sounded'? Or drop 'on account of' for 'because'?

"Pope Urban VIII sent his old friend his special blessing."
Do we know what that special blessing was?

An interesting read, GB. I really enjoyed it!

Hi GB, good entry.


I don't understand the following, though:

Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's four main moons in 1609 provided strong evidence that heliocentrism was indeed correct. In how far was that a proof?

A couple of nitpicks:

The post at there - the post there?

objects of varing weights, - varying?

Very smooth reading it is, well done

Nitpick: you sort of quote twice Stephen Hawking, which looks a bit odd.

And, no mention of Brecht's play?

you sort of quote twice Stephen Hawking, which looks a bit odd.
objects of varing weights, - varying?
The post at there - the post there?
Footnote 6 - Pope Urban VIII threatened tobacco smokers with excommunication on account of their sneezing sounded like sexual ecstacy.
This phrase doesn't quite read right for me - perhaps 'sounding' rather than 'sounded'? Or drop 'on account of' for 'because'?
Questions:
Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's four main moons in 1609 provided strong evidence that heliocentrism was indeed correct. In how far was that a proof?

If the moons of Jupiter revolve around Jupiter, then they don't orbit the Earth. Ergo, geocentrism is wrong.

"Pope Urban VIII sent his old friend his special blessing."
Do we know what that special blessing was?
The Pope's Special Blessing. Would you prefer I capitalise that?

but the girls went with their father when he moved to Florence..."
So did he split up from his partner at that point, or were they together but living seperately? I don't know if it's necessary for the text but I'm interested!
Galileo remained on friendly terms (and with her new husband) so I suppose the split up was amicable.


Still to do:
"Galileo ... made mistakes ... that the Sun must rotate. ... but it was indeed true."
If you are stating that Galileo made mistakes, could we have an example of a mistake rather than something that is true?
Perhaps the hits and misses statement doesn't belong here if you're trying to highlight some of the things he did right.

Galileo produced a book with a flawed proof that the Earth moved based on an incorrect explanation of the tides."
Did the Pope know it was flawed, or is that something that we have discovered later?

And, no mention of Brecht's play?

thanks for the feedback guys

The Pope's Special Blessing.
It makes it sound like a set text - is it a set text or was is a special blessing that the Pope wrote for him? It seems like such a little thing in the grand scheme of things, but it sort of jumped out at me. If it wasn't a set text, just a blessing would probably do it.

To me it looked just like the pope sent a blessing to Galileo, so it is automatically special because he doesn't do it for everybody. So the 'special' isn't official terminology.

Oh, okay. It's just me then.

The Pope's Special Blessing.
rewritten

Galileo ... made mistakes ... that the Sun must rotate. ... but it was indeed true."
If you are stating that Galileo made mistakes, could we have an example of a mistake rather than something that is true?
Perhaps the hits and misses statement doesn't belong here if you're trying to highlight some of the things he did right.
Done

Bertolt Brecht
Done


Still to do:
Galileo produced a book with a flawed proof that the Earth moved based on an incorrect explanation of the tides."
Did the Pope know it was flawed, or is that something that we have discovered later?

I've changed the text to:

The Church said that Galileo could say that the Sun was the centre of the Solar System if he could prove it. He couldn't, and Galileo was subsequently forbidden from teaching or promoting his theories about heliocentrism.

Looks like another interesting entry GB

But i'm afraid I have to automatically disagree with it as it states Neptune to be the outermost planet (unless it was at the time via knowledge or pluto's odd orbit).

Pluto is still a planet!!!

Otherwise good, will read in more detail in a little bit

This is not the place to rant about Pluto's demotion

I wrote:
<>

Uranus was not even known about then, so Pluto never comes into the history.

http://xkcd.com/473/

Ah fair enough, i was wondering whether all the planets were known at that stage.

Speaking of pluto's demotion i don#t suppose you'd be willing to do an entry on it?

No, we already had an EG entry on Pluto A387182 before its demotion and a section on the demotion of 2006 was added to it

i saw that, it looked a little small (it is a whistlestop tour however and seems sufficent) - however i've now got distracted by XKCD - its not blocked by school.

Rest of entry looks good though

nuff

You mention that Galileo was not excommunicated, however his censure lasted long after his death.
It might be worthwhile to mention its lifting.
here is one source:
http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2000/03/The-Vaticans-Turn-To-Recant.aspx
which said in part:

"Three and a half centuries later, it was the Vatican's turn to recant. In 1979, a year after he became Pope, John Paul II signaled that he wanted the Galileo case set right by giving a speech at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at which he declared in typically elliptical Vatican language that theologians, scholars, and historians, animated by a spirit of sincere collaboration, will study the Galileo case more deeply....October 1992, Cardinal Paul Poupard presented the Pope with the findings of the Galileo study commission, which declared, From the Galileo case we can draw a lesson which is applicable today in analogous cases which arise in our times and which may arise in the future. It often happens that, beyond two partial points of view which are in contrast, there exists a wider view of things which embraces both and integrates them. By Vatican standards, this rotund language was an apology. The Pope responded by saying that Galileo's realizations about the sun and earth must have been divinely inspired: Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions. Through its 1992 ceremony, the church finally lifted its edict of Inquisition against Galileo, who went to his grave a devout Catholic, despite the church's treatment of him."

You have a section on Popes- perhaps a paragraph at the end of that section with the subheader John Paul II lifts inquisition.

"He was able to study the surface of the Moon in intimate detail for the first time in human history."

What an amazing moment that must have been for him. Really astonishing to think about.

"Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's four main moons in January 1610 provided strong evidence that heliocentrism was indeed correct"

What exactly was it about the discovery of the moons? I don't quite understand. Did they not know that other planets had moons?

"During a trial which last three weeks he did recant" - there seems to be a word or two missing there.

This entry makes me want to read more about Galileo, which is always a good sign.