ABSTRACT

Italy had been the scene of the revival of classical learning. It was in Italy likewise that the foundations of modern science were laid by Galilei and his disciples. When the darkness of the Middle Ages began to lift, Italy was divided into numerous republics and principalities which competed for the leadership sometimes by means of warfare and sometimes by means of more friendly forms of rivalry. Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564, at Pisa, which was at that time under the Medicean government of Florence, though it had been a free city during the Middle Ages. Various arguments are directed not only against the Scholastic glorification of the heavenly bodies at the expense of the Earth, but also against the whole notion that immutability is a mark of perfection. Galilei’s astronomical discoveries were certainly very important, and made a great impression on thoughtful people even outside the ranks of men of science.