This was the period in the 16th century when the foundations of Aristotelian beliefs were not shaken. This was the time when Michel Angelo died, Shakespeare was borne. This is the golden period of renaissance and the man we are talking about is one of the chief architects of this revolution; yes, he is Galileo Galilee. Never before word rebel and arrogance were truly hallmark of intellectual rigor and passion for discovery of truth embedded in the natures bounty. Even though in literal sense Galileo was not a person word ‘arrogance’ signifies but he always longed to excel within rules but more often he bridled against them.
Contemporaries of Galileo were greatly involved in advancing human understanding through landmark works like Magnetism by William Gilbert, New Astronomy by Johanes Keplar, Science Capital by Padua and not to forget his own work The Starry Messenger. He was the pioneer in discovering the telescope. Indicating how path breaking was that discovery, Danial Borstine says, “Who would dare use a toy to penetrate majesty of celestial sphere.” He tried to negate what Keplar said about the tides happening due to the influence of gravity of moon. He ridiculed him in soft language as, “Among the great men who have philosophized about the action of tides, the one who surprised me most is Keplar. He was the person of independent genius. But he became interested in the action of the moon on the water, and in other occult phenomena, and similar childlessness.
He was the first man to tell us that universe has more stars than seen before milky way has innumerable stars. Galileo was middle age celebrity. He shared a zest of social life. He was very much aware about limitations of human quest to know about the universe. This is reflected from one of his remarks, “Brash to call everything in universe vain & superfluous if it does not serve us The presumptuous ignorance of mankind !” He believed that “The universe cannot be read untill we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word. (Opere II Saggiatore p.171) Without contrasting the spirit of humility expresses in last two sentences he goes on to say that In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.(Arago, Eulogy of Galileo, 1874)
He describes the divine spirit enshrined in the human attitude to investigate natural laws in a language apparently seems high order diplomatic argument and on other side reflects a true ingenuity of a reasoned man bent upon demolishing the mental world refusing to open their minds to new winds of knowledge. He says, “The divine intellect indeed knows infinitely more propositions than we ever can know. But with regard to those few which the human intellect does understand. I believe that it`s knowledge equals the Divine in objective certainty.”
He built critical attack against the belief system which were powerful in sustaining the anti-rational establishment. He says, “It is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can ever speak untruth—whenever its true meaning is understood. But I believe nobody will deny abstruse, and may say things which are quite different from what its barewords signify.” This observation of him signifies to his ability to discern the paradoxes associated with the culture which builds beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, culture and civilization. In this context it is important to remember that Galileo was visionary communicator. He believed in using language of common man. He used to say, “I work in colloquial language use therefore I must have everyone able to read it. He was quick prolific, astute in dedicating himself for better understanding of people what he was working upon. In this respect he was among the rarest of the rare scientists.
Galileo Galilei has been described by Albert Einstein as “the father of modern physics, indeed, of modern science all together.” He was the one who brought in new ideas into classical mechanics and systematized the field. His great discoveries with the telescope mark him as the founder of modern observational astronomy. While he was also a prolific inventor, his importance in history is as an outspoken champion of science. He is remembered for his defense of the new (then) heliocentric theory of Nicholas Copernicus against the dogmatic views of the Catholic Church. Galileo was a wonderful writer and orator who understood the importance and necessity popularizing science. While he was unparalleled in his pursuit of truth, he was also known for his arrogance, sarcasm and conceit which landed him in many disputes. Science got a distinct identity with the life and works of Galileo.
Galileo's thought process about the grandness of the structure and mechanism of science is evident from his quote: “Infinites and indivisibles transcend our finite understanding, the former on account of of their magnitude, the latter because of their smallness; Imagine what they are when combined.” This was foresighted statement the fruits of which we are watching today with he advancement of Quantum Physics, High Energy Astronomy both hand in hand.
(With inputs Based on Talk : “Galileo and the Rise of Science” by P.R. Vishwanath, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore delivered on 6th Aug, 2009, Jawaharlal Nehru University)
