Galileo Engineer

337 Pages·2010·5.75 MB·English

by  Matteo Valleriani (auth.)

GALILEOENGINEER
BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
VOLUME269
Editors
ROBERTS.COHEN,BostonUniversity
JÜRGENRENN,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience
KOSTASGAVROGLU,UniversityofAthens
EditorialAdvisoryBoard
THOMASF.GLICK,BostonUniversity
ADOLFGRÜNBAUM,UniversityofPittsburgh
SYLVANS.SCHWEBER,BrandeisUniversity
JOHNJ.STACHEL,BostonUniversity
MARXW.WARTOFSKY†,(Editor1960–1997)
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/5710
GALILEO ENGINEER
by
MATTEOVALLERIANI
MaxPlanckInstitutefor theHistoryofScience
Berlin,Germany
123
MatteoValleriani
MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience
Boltzmannstr.22
14195Berlin
Germany
[email protected]
DissertationzurErlangungdesDoktorgradesanderPhilosophischenFakultätIderHumboldt
UniversitätzuBerlin.
ISBN978-90-481-8644-0 e-ISBN978-90-481-8645-7
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-8645-7
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010922899
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2010
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SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
CarlodeBonardis(17thcentury).Scientistundertakinganexperiment.Oilpainting
(BonaCastellotti,Gambaetal.1999/2000,141)

Contents
Foreword:TheHistoricalEpistemologyofMechanics . . . . . . . . . . xi
JürgenRenn
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
PartI WarandPractice
1 Artist-Engineers’ApprenticeshipandGalileo . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
ThePoliticalandEconomicContext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
TheEducationofArtist-Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Galileo’sApprenticeship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
FromtheApprenticeshiptotheWorkshopviatheUniversity . . . . . . 15
TheBuzzoftheWorkshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 InstrumentsandMachines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Galileo’sBalanceSheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
TheProductionandOrganizationoftheWorkshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 26
TheMilitaryCompass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
TheReductionCompass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
TheSurveyingCompass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
OtherInstrumentsandTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
GlassProduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
AdaptingtheTelescopeforotherOpticalDevices . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
MachineforPoundingGunpowder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
MachineforLiftingHeavyWeights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
WaterLiftingMachine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
GalileoasaMilitaryEngineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3 Galileo’sPrivateCourseonFortifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
TheStructureoftheBusiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
MathematicsfortheMilitaryArt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
MilitaryArchitecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
ArtilleryPoweredbyGunpowder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
vii
viii Contents
Lasfera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
TheScienceofMachines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
CompoundsofSimpleMachinestoMultiplyForce . . . . . . . . . . . 104
CompoundMachinesUsefulintheFortress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
TheArtofWarandtheMaterialityofMachines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
PartII PracticeandScience
4 TheKnowledgeoftheVenetianArsenal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
DatingGalileo’sWorkontheScienceofMaterials. . . . . . . . . . . . 120
TheKeyQuestionoftheMachineMakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Galileo’sCantileverModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
TheOriginsoftheRenaissanceEngineers’CantileverModel . . . . . . 124
GalileoattheArsenal:TheAristotelianNauticalQuestions . . . . . . . 132
DidtheVenetianArsenalEmployGalileo? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Galileo’sApprenticeshipasaProto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Galileo’sMasterpiece:TheOarModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
DidGalileoBecomeaProto? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5 Pneumatics, the Thermoscope and the New Atomistic
ConceptionofHeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
TheThermoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
TheEmergenceoftheThermoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
FromtheThermoscopetotheThermometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
EmpiricalDataProvidedbytheThermoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
TheReceptionofAncientPneumatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
GalileoasaPneumaticEngineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
TheFunctioningoftheThermoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Galileo’sDoctrineofHeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
TheGenerationofaHeatDoctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
PartIII TheEngineerandtheScientist
6 WasGalileoanEngineer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
RevolutionoftheArtofWar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
GalileiintheCurrentofWarfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
BeyondEngineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
TheAristotelianEngineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
GenerationofKnowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Engineer-Scientists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Sources:Galileo’sCorrespondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
NotesontheTranslations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
GalileotoG.ContariniinVenice.Padova,March22,1593 . . . . . . . 214
G.ContarinitoGalileoinPadova.Venice,March28,1593 . . . . . . . 216
GalileotoA.MocenigoinVenice.Padova,January11,1594 . . . . . . 219
G.SagredotoGalileoinPadova.Venice,January17,1602 . . . . . . . 221
Contents ix
G.SagredotoGalileoinPadova.Venice,August23,1602. . . . . . . . 222
GalileotoA.de’MediciinFlorence.Padova,February11,1609 . . . . 223
G.BartolitoB.VintainFlorence.Venice,September26,1609 . . . . . 225
M.HastaltoGalileoinFlorence.Prague,August24,1610 . . . . . . . 226
D.AntoninitoGalileoinFlorence.Brussels,February4,1612 . . . . . 227
G.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,June30,1612 . . . . . . . . 229
G.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,May9,1613 . . . . . . . . . 231
G.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,July27,1613 . . . . . . . . 233
G.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,August24,1613 . . . . . . . 234
G.B.BalianitoGalileoinFlorence.Genoa,April4,1614. . . . . . . . 238
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,February7,1615 . . . . . 239
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,March15,1615 . . . . . . 241
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,April11,1615 . . . . . . 244
B.CastellitoGalileoinFlorence.Pisa,May24,1617 . . . . . . . . . . 248
GalileotoLeopoldofAustriainInnsbruck.Florence,May23,1618 . . 250
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Morocco,August4,1618 . . . . . 252
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,August18,1618 . . . . . 255
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinBellosguardo.Venice,October27,1618 . . 256
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,November3,1618 . . . . 257
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,December22,1618 . . . . 259
G.F.SagredotoGalileoinBellosguardo.Venice,March30,1619 . . . 260
G.C.LagallatoGalileoinFlorence.Rome,July30,1621 . . . . . . . . 263
G.B.GuazzaronitoGalileoinAquasparta.Todi,April20,1624 . . . . 264
GalileotoF.CesiinRome.Bellosguardo,September23,1624 . . . . . 266
G.diGuevaratoGalileoinFlorence.Teano,November15,1627 . . . . 268
A.ArrighettitoGalileoinSiena.Florence,September25,1633 . . . . . 270
GalileotoA.ArrighettiinFlorence.Siena,September27,1633 . . . . . 273
N.AggiuntitoGalileoinFlorence.Pisa,February22,1634 . . . . . . . 274
F.MicanziotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,July8,1634 . . . . . . . . . 276
A.deVilletoGalileoinArcetri.Venice,March3,1635 . . . . . . . . . 277
F.MicanziotoGalileoinFlorence.Venice,December1,1635 . . . . . 284
B.CavalieritoGalileoinArcetri.Bologna,March11,1636 . . . . . . . 285
GalileotoL.ReaelinAmsterdam.Arcetri,June5,1637. . . . . . . . . 288
GalileotoF.MicanzioinVenice.Arcetri,November20,1637. . . . . . 295
Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Galileo’sWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
PrimaryLiterature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
SecondaryLiterature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
NameIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
IllustrationIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319