Re: Galileo's _Dialog..._

[Wilson Gonzalez-espada <wge@ARCHES.UGA.EDU>]

Dr. Figura:

I remember using a fragment of one of Galileo's dialogues about free fall
in a physics class.  Salviati represented the ideas of Galileo. Simplicio
represented the ideas of Aristotle. Sagredo represented an impartial
listener.  Simplicio was not an idiot, but a person who believed the
accepted models of the universe at that time, and required much more than
a simple argument to be conviced.  I think that we sometimes behave like
Simplicio when new radical scientific ideas are discussed.

I am sure that Paolo Cavallo, an excellent physics teacher who is on this
list, will give you a much more detailed explanation (both scientific
and historical) than me.

Wilson

  > Greetings
- >
> I'm teaching an intro to astronomy course and I'm going to be discussing
> Galileo for a day.  I recall hearing somewhere that Galileo used the names
> (Salviati, Sagredo, Simplicio) as underhanded jabs against the geocentric
> paradigm.  Obviously, Simplicio denotes an idiot/simpleton, but I don't
> remember
> the translation of the other names.
>
> > From the preface to The Dialog it seems that he has borrowed the names
> from real people.  I'm not sure that I understand who those people were,
> though.
> Can anyone help me out here?
>
> Thanks much -
>
>
> Charles Figura
> figura@wartburg.edu       http://www.wartburg.edu/mcsp/figura
> Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics
> (319) 352-8373           "The only capital crime in nature is stupidity.
> (319) 352-8606 (fax)     The penalty is death, and it is administered
>                                         promptly, and without mercy."
>                                                             -R. A. Heinlein

Wilson J. Gonzalez-Espada
Science Education Department
University of Georgia
wge@arches.uga.edu