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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
New to Penguin Classics, the astonishing story of the Copernican
Revolution, told through the words of the ground-breaking
scientists who brought it about In the late fifteenth century, it
was believed that the earth stood motionless at the centre of a
small, ordered cosmos. Just over two centuries later, everything
had changed. Not only was the sun the centre of creation, but the
entire practice of science had been revolutionised. This is the
story of that astonishing transformation, told through the words of
the astronomers and mathematicians at its heart. Bringing together
excerpts from the works and letters of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler,
Descartes, Newton and others for the first time, The Dawn of Modern
Cosmology is the definitive record of one of the great turning
points in human history. Edited with Translations, Notes and an
Introduction by Aviva Rothman
Finocchiaro's new and revised translations have done what the
Inquisition could not: they have captured an exceptional range of
Galileo's career while also letting him speak--in clear English. No
other volume offers more convenient or more reliable access to
Galileo's own words, whether on the telescope, the Dialogue, the
trial, or the mature theory of motion. --Michael H. Shank,
Professor of the History of Science, University of
Wisconsin--Madison
Galileo Galilei's Sidereus Nuncius is arguably the most dramatic
scientific book ever published. It announced new and unexpected
phenomena in the heavens, "unheard of through the ages," revealed
by a mysterious new instrument. Galileo had ingeniously improved
the rudimentary "spyglasses" that appeared in Europe in 1608, and
in the autumn of 1609 he pointed his new instrument at the sky,
revealing astonishing sights: mountains on the moon, fixed stars
invisible to the naked eye, individual stars in the Milky Way, and
four moons around the planet Jupiter. These discoveries changed the
terms of the debate between geocentric and heliocentric cosmology
and helped ensure the eventual acceptance of the Copernican
planetary system. Albert Van Helden's beautifully rendered and
eminently readable translation is based on the Venice 1610
edition's original Latin text. An introduction, conclusion, and
copious notes place the book in its historical and intellectual
context, and a new preface, written by Van Helden, highlights
recent discoveries in the field, including the detection of a
forged copy of Sidereus Nuncius, and new understandings about the
political complexities of Galileo's work.
Galileo's 1632 book, "Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems,
Ptolemaic and Copernican," comes alive for twentieth-century
readers thanks to Maurice Finocchiaro's brilliant new translation
and presentation. Condemned by the Inquisition for its heretical
proposition that the earth revolves around the sun, Galileo's
masterpiece takes the form of a debate, divided into four "days,"
among three highly articulate gentlemen.
Finocchiaro sets the stage with his introduction, which not only
provides the human and historical framework for the "Dialogue" but
also admits the reader gracefully into the basic non-Copernican
understanding of the universe that would have been shared by
Galileo's original audience. The translation of the "Dialogue" is
abridged in order to highlight its essential content, and
Finocchiaro gives titles to the various parts of the debate as a
guide to the principal topics. By explicating his own critical
reading of this text that is itself an exercise in critical
reasoning on a gripping real-life controversy, he illuminates those
universal, perennial activities of the human mind that make
Galileo's book a living document. This is a concrete, hands-on
introduction to critical thinking. The translation has been made
from the Italian text provided in volume 7 of the Critical National
Edition of Galileo's complete works edited by Antonio Favaro. The
translator has also consulted the 1632 edition, as well as the
other previous English translations, including California's 1967
version.
"Galileo on the World Systems" is a remarkably nuanced
interpretation of a classic work and will give readers the tools to
understand and evaluate for themselves one of the most influential
scientific books in Western civilization.
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