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__Galileo, Courtier__, by Mario Baigioli helps show how the scientific revolution and scientific discoveries are based on the culture of the time, as shown by the life of Galileo Galilei. In my opinion Mario Baigioli repeated himself in conveying his point to the reader, but overall his book was very descriptive and interesting. Baigioli explains how Galileo rose up from a lowly position to the Philosopher of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, then his fall at the end of his career.

The first chapter is called “Galileo’s Self-fashioning”. It is mainly about how Galileo ascended to the high rank of Philosopher of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. First importantly it describes about how the class system of the time worked. Someone of lower class was not allowed to, on the grounds of being rude, to talk to a patron of a higher class level. It also says that patronage wasn’t really an option, but because if you didn’t get involved in a patronage it was social suicide. This was especially true if you wanted to belong to the upper class. In order to become a client to an upper-class patron one must go through a large network of brokers that will allow to you eventually get access to a higher level class. In a letter to a patron one must be very polite and when the patron of the higher class writes back and says you can drop the formalities you are then officially their client. Another way to impress a patron is to give him a gift or dedicate a discovery to him, and in return, though indirectly, the patron will reward his client with a gift of equal value. “Galileo’s initial career goal was to gain a university post, which he eventually obtained at Pisa in 1589 and at Padua in 1592. The second phase in his pursuit of patronage, which began around 1600 and grew more systematic after 1604, was aimed at obtaining a position at either the Medici or Gonzaga court.” (Page 21) To complete his goals Galileo used a large network that he ha inherited from his father. His other strategy was to gain the support of Cosimo when he was still a young boy. Galileo was allowed to tutor Cosimo which was his first stop to influence in the Medici Court. Galileo would give out gifts such as his telescopes and his compass.

The second Chapter is called “Discoveries and Etiquette”. As implied by the title this chapter explains how a client would present his patron with a discovery properly. It also tells how Galileo presented Cosimo with one of his most influential gifts. In order to present a patron gift or discovery, you have to present it in a way that it was already his. The discovery might have been dedicated to a great patron, but before it was discovered it was theirs already, and the client was only revealing it to them. In return the patron would use his influence to give his client a better social standing or even a pay increase. This not only rewarded the client indirectly but allowed the great patron to see how strong his influence was in other areas. The way Galileo presented the “Medicean Stars” to Cosimo II was a very interesting point in this book. He discovered them using his telescope and presented them to Cosimo using past mythology of Cosimo II’s family. It was said that Jupiter had seven virtues and the four stars represented four of the seven and in that way they already belonged to the Medicean family. Galileo was only showing the Medicean family that they existed and wasn’t giving them anything that they didn’t already own. “This may explain why Galileo and Pellisson presented themselves as not giving anything to their prince that was not already his. It was only by doing so that the rewards the prince would bestow on them would not appear as remuneration for a service they had performed.” (Pages 152-153) After this Galileo was rewarded the position of Philosopher of the Grand Duke and was allowed to keep his pay from his professor job without actually working.

The third chapter is called “Anatomy of a Court Dispute”. This chapter tells how in a court the court system they allowed disputes and even encouraged them among its mathematicians and philosophers. It was described as a duel since when entering a dispute, if the person lost they probably would lose your honor. Losing your honor was basically losing your life, like what would happen in a duel. One of Galileo’s most important disputes was his dispute on buoyancy. Most of a dispute would be written back and forth between opponents and would criticize each others experiments. An example of this is show on page 203. “In later statements, Galileo tried to dismiss delle Colombe’s experiment by insisting that buoyancy and emergibility were the same thing. The “wetness clause” which he later tried to push on delle Colombe reflected this strategy. Eventually the dispute on buoyancy died out and never really reached actual closure.

The forth chapter is called “The Anthropology of Incommensurability”. This chapter is about how Galileo could argue with the Philosophers. He said that they should learn the language of mathematics because they could never understand what he was trying to say. He also said that he understood the Aristotelian method, so he clearly had the advantage over them. After chapter four, there is the Intermezzo called “Roma Theatrum Mundi”. This shows how Rome is a different stage then Florence and how it doesn’t matter what is shown so much as the people are there to watch it. “Evidently, the importance of these gatherings was judged by the quality of the hosts and guests more than by that of the speakers. Interestingly, the avvisi did not seem to differentiate descriptions of literary events from those of banquets, comedies, wedding, jousts, receptions, and theatrical performances.” Rome was very different then Florence for Galileo, but he had to learn how to work it if he were to gain support there. Galileo was also not able to use mythologies like he did in Florence, since patrons like the Pope didn’t have a past family history he could use well.

Chapter five is called “Courtly Comets”. This chapter tells how Galileo dedicated the Assayer to the Pope and how most of his discoveries were made. The Pope really liked the one part in the Assayer and could allow it to be published because of Fable of Sound. It told a story that’s could be interpreted as God could be the reason for anything to happen. This is important because saying God is the reason for everything, but the human mind not being able to understand it is the reason for Galileo’s research. When there were comets in the sky everyone looked towards Galileo for an answer. He was unable to give this answer because he was sick in bed, so the Jesuits took control of the situation and discovered them and published reasons for the comets being there. Galileo couldn’t allow the Jesuits to be in control of that important scientific discovery so he decided to dispute them and prove their reasons wrong. The main point of this is that Galileo had to find a reason for the Comets because his Patrons asked him to. This means that most of what his research was involved in was based on what his patrons wanted to know. Based on the wants of his patrons and therefore the culture Galileo would research and discover different things. This is the main way this book shows that scientific revolutions are based on the culture of the time, including the need of God being involved due to the major influence of the Church.

Chapter six is called “Framing Galileo’s Trial”. This is about how Galileo was punished by the Church and some of the reasons for his punishment. Galileo was punished for saying that the earth was not the center of the universe and instead revolved around the sun. The Pope even though good friends with Galileo could not let him say this and get away with it. I feel that Galileo’s punishment to house arrest would have been much worse had he not been friends with the Pope. This might also have to do with the “fall of the favorite”. “In short, the fall of the favorite was no accident but rather a routine process of “seasonal rejuvenation” of the court and of “cleansing” of the prince’s power image. “ This would mean that Galileo’s fall was important, since it helped clear the pop from the image he had gotten for being light during the 30 years war. Eventually under house arrest Galileo died in 1642.

I thought this book was very interesting, since by telling of Galileo’s life it conveys many important points. One point is that scientific discoveries depend on the culture of the time. The church played an important role in the advancement of science. Also, many scientists such as Galileo during that time were affected by the court system. They would only discover things that were useful to their advancement, and sometimes they would only look into scientific matters if asked to do so by their patrons. Galileo was also very important to science because he helped get mathematicians a better name over the Philosophers and allowed more scientific discoveries to be made.