This book is meant to be a summary, synthesis, and simplification of my many scholarly works dealing with the Galileo affair: his Inquisition trial, its intellectual issues, its background, the historical aftermath up to our day, and the philosophical and cultural lessons involving the relationship between science and religion and the nature of rationality, scientific method, and critical thinking. Thus, I owe a debt of gratitude to the many scholars and institutions from whom my scholarly work has benefitted. They are mentioned in my previous works, and so here it will suffice for me to express only this general acknowledgment.
Furthermore, this book is also meant to be an expansion and elaboration of a public lecture which I have had the opportunity to deliver at many venues in many parts of the world. In fact, after I started publishing scholarly works on the Galileo affair, it did not take long before I received invitations to present a one-hour lecture to audiences of intelligent and educated persons who were not specialists on the topic, but were curious and interested about its details. Although initially challenging and uncomfortable, such lecturing became increasingly pleasant, and also beneficial to me by forcing me to focus on the universal and perennial relevance of the topic. I have never had the occasion to formally thank the organizers and audiences of such lectures, and so here it seems very appropriate to express my gratitude, both generally and specifically.
Deserving mention are the following more memorable occasions, when the organizers were especially wise and effective, and the audiences especially engaged and engaging: Raymond Erickson and the audience of musicians, musicologists, artists, and art critics, at the Tenth Aston Magna Academy on Music, the Arts, and Society, on the theme of “Foundations of the Italian Baroque, 1560–1620,” at Rutgers State University, June 23–30, 1991; Carlos Alvarez and the interdisciplinary audience of faculty and students, at the Colloquium on “Mathematics, History, and Culture,” to inaugurate the new library of the Faculty of Science, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, September 20–2, 1994; Derrick Pitts and the general public at “The Legacy of Galileo Symposium,” on the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescopic discoveries, at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, June 18–20, 2009; Peter Slezak and the audience at the public lecture sponsored by the Program in History and Philosophy of Science and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, also to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, October 22, 2009; John W. Meriwether and the audience of scientists, engineers, and spouses, at the “Classmate Speaker Program,” 50th Anniversary Reunion of the Class of 1964, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 6, 2014; and Kenneth Wolfe and the audience of mostly elderly and retired persons at the “Contextual Lecture Series 2014: People Who Changed the World,” Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, July 8, 2014.
Last but not least, there is a group of persons to whom I am grateful and who deserve acknowledgment for their assistance concerning this particular book, attempting to simplify my specialized scholarship and to amplify my public lecture. John Heilbron, author of Galileo and many other books in the history of physics, provided both positive support and substantive criticism; I appreciated both, while feeling free to criticize his criticism. Latha Menon, at Oxford University Press, not only did the usual tasks required of a commissioning editor, but also read and edited the entire manuscript; her suggestions significantly improved the literary style and narrative and the general appeal of my writing. One of the anonymous reviewers of my original proposal provided not only a favorable recommendation, but also a very perceptive and fruitful interpretation of my project: “without ‘dumbing down’ of historical and philosophical content, to be of interest to a wide readership”; this was and continued to be my guiding principle in the writing of this book, and I found this reviewer’s judgment a constant source of encouragement. Finally, two readers of my manuscript deserve special thanks: Aaron Abbey, a professional librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a former student of mine; and Mark Attorri, a professional and practicing attorney in New Hampshire, for whom Galileo is a hobby and diversion from his law practice. They provided numerous and detailed comments and criticisms, and I feel extremely fortunate to have had this book read by these two ideal examples of intelligent, educated, interested, curious, and nonspecialist readers.
In a class by itself is the special debt of gratitude which I owe to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in particular the College of Liberal Arts, the Philosophy Department, the Chair of the Philosophy Department (David Forman), my departmental colleagues (David Beisecker, Ian Dove, Todd Jones, Bill Ramsey, Paul Schollmeier, and James Woodbridge), and the staff in the Office of Information Technology (Hector Ibarra and Nick Panissidi). They have continued to provide institutional, material, and moral support, even after I decided to retire from formal teaching to work full time on research, scholarship, and writing.