Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of Galileo's daughter, a cloistered nun, Dava Sobel has written a biography unlike any other of the man Albert Einstein called "the father of modern physics- indeed of modern science altogether." Galileo's Daughter also presents a stunning portrait of a person hitherto lost to history, described by her father as "a woman of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and most tenderly attached to me."
The son of a musician, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) tried at first to enter a monastery before engaging the skills that made him the foremost scientist of his day. Though he never left Italy, his inventions and discoveries were heralded around the world. Most sensationally, his telescopes allowed him to reveal a new reality in the heavens and to reinforce the astounding argument that the Earth moves around the Sun. For this belief, he was brought before the Holy Office of the Inquisition, accused of heresy, and forced to spend his last years under house arrest.
Of Galileo's three illegitimate children, the eldest best mirrored his own brilliance, industry, and sensibility, and by virtue of these qualities became his confidante. Born Virginia in 1600, she was thirteen when Galileo placed her in a convent near him in Florence, where she took the most appropriate name of Suor Maria Celeste. Her loving support, which Galileo repaid in kind, proved to be her father's greatest source of strength throughout his most productive and tumultuous years. Her presence, through letters which Sobel has translated from their original Italian and masterfully woven into the narrative, graces her father's life now as it did then.
Galileo's Daughter dramatically recolors the personality and accomplishment of a mythic figure whose seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion. Moving between Galileo's grand public life and Maria Celeste's sequestered world, Sobel illuminates the Florence of the Medicis and the papal court in Rome during the pivotal era when humanity's perception of its place in the cosmos was about to be overturned. In that same time, while the bubonic plague wreaked its terrible devastation and the Thirty Years' War tipped fortunes across Europe, one man sought to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed through his telescope.
With all the human drama and scientific adventure that distinguished Dava Sobel's previous book Longitude, Galileo's Daughter is an unforgettable story.
Le informazioni nella sezione "Riassunto" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.
Dava Sobel is an award-winning science writer and former New York Times reporter who has contributed articles to Audubon, Discover, and The New Yorker. As a contributing editor to Harvard Magazine, she covered scientific research and the history of science.
Le informazioni nella sezione "Su questo libro" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.
Spese di spedizione:
GRATIS
In U.S.A.
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: New. We sell Rare, out-of-print, uncommon, & used BOOKS, PRINTS, MAPS, DOCUMENTS, AND EPHEMERA. We do not sell ebooks, print on demand, or other reproduced materials. Each item you see here is individually described and imaged. We welcome further inquiries. Codice articolo DADAX0802713432
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: New. 1st Edition. Codice articolo ABE-1708041351234
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: New. Codice articolo BK1754
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: New. Condizione sovraccoperta: New. 1st Edition. This is a New and Unread copy of the first edition (1st printing). Includes illustrations, Index, Bibliography. Codice articolo 047185
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: New. Condizione sovraccoperta: New. 1st Edition. New, 1st Edition, 1st Print. This is a well-researched story about the daughter of the iconic figure, Galileo. Historically true and feels so real! Not marked, clipped or library. Codice articolo 001682
Descrizione libro Soft cover. Condizione: New. Condizione sovraccoperta: New. 1st Edition. First Edition, with correct number line sequence, no writing, marks, underlining, or bookplates. No remainder marks. Spine is tight and crisp. Boards are flat and true and the corners are square. Dust jacket is not price-clipped. This collectible, " NEW" condition first edition/third printing copy is protected with a polyester archival dust jacket cover. Beautiful collectible copy. GIFT QUALITY. Codice articolo 002724
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Codice articolo GoldenDragon0802713432
Descrizione libro Condizione: New. Book is in NEW condition. 1.85. Codice articolo 0802713432-2-1
Descrizione libro Condizione: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 1.85. Codice articolo 353-0802713432-new
Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: new. New. Codice articolo Wizard0802713432