GALILEO
By J.L. Heilbron
Oxford Unuiversity Press. 508 pages. £20.00
ISBN 978 0 199 583 522
Asked to name a famous scientist, most people would come up with Galileo, Newton or Einstein. But Galileo is special. He is also known as the martyr of science; a champion of reason over faith, persecuted by obscurantist Christianity. The dust jacket of this book has just this flavour. Happily, Heilbron is better informed than his dust jacket suggests. He elsewhere notes that the dogmatic opposition between Church and Science ‘makes too good and simple a story to ruin with facts’, but ruin it he does, for this biography is very well informed indeed.1
It has been said that Galileo is best known for the things he never did, such as inventing the telescope. This is a shame, as his real achievements are well worth the telling.
Heilbron places Galileo in the context of his times and gives a rich account of his life. An astronomer certainly, but also a Renaissance man, equally passionate for poems and telescopes: musician, artist, social climber, father, bestseller, entrepreneur, courtier, and cleric. Cleric? This surprises many people, but, towards the end of his life, Galileo was a tonsured canon of the Church with a pension approved by the Pope. Moreover, his clerical status was not solely a matter of convenience; Galileo held a more or less orthodox Catholic faith. Galileo’s work is traced from his early geometric defence of the geography of hell, to his final publication on motion. The treatment is often technical, and will sometimes make demands on the non-specialist.
Most of us grew up with the story of Galileo’s persecution by the Church2. Heilbron is well placed to give a more accurate account. His earlier book on the use of cathedrals as solar observatories illustrated the Church’s continuing role in astronomical enquiry well into the 18th century. His account of Galileo’s trial avoids the simplistic picture of warfare between Church and Science. The complex relationships between those involved is set in historical context, emphasising Galileo’s relationship with Pope Urban VIII. Once his friend and patron, who wrote a poem in his praise, Urban felt betrayed at Galileo’s perceived mockery, and his attitude changed. Even so, Galileo was afforded unprecedented privileges and comforts during his trial. He was sentenced to house arrest and the weekly recitation of the penitential psalms, but was able to receive visitors (including Hobbes and Milton), as well as continue his scientific research and keep his pension. He delegated the psalms to his daughter. This is a fine biography.
Philip Sampson, Portsmouth
1. Heilbron, ‘Censorship of astonomy in Italy after Galileo’ in E. McMullin (Ed.), The Church and Galileo
2. See my Six Modern Myths, IVP
