Scientific Revolution Journal Entry

Galileo has been depicted variously as a cynical opportunist, patient genius or lucky
engineer, and dies a coward or modern Socrates. This is a quote from London Review of
Books by Nick Wilding. I agree with the assessment that Galileo was a patient genius and
died modern Socrates and disagree with the assessment that Galileo was a cynical
opportunist or a lucky engineer and died a coward.


I disagree with the assessment that Galileo was a cynical opportunist. A cynical opportunist is
a person who is very sceptical and takes advantage of another person. Through my research,
I have arrived at the conclusion that Galileo did not do any such thing. However, there was
one incident that may slightly paint him in the light of an opportunist. After Galileo had
published the book he wrote about his findings, the Catholic Church were enraged by the fact
that Galileo went against the knowledge that the church taught the people and hence sent
Galileo a warning. In reply to this warning, Galileo wrote a letter his argument that defended
Copernicus ideas with great skill and flattery so as to gain the sympathy of the influential
people, one of whom was his close friend, Matteo Barberini, who then proceeded to help
Galileo gain permission to write about the Copernican theory from the new Pope. However,
this incident may be interpreted incorrectly so as to show Galileo being an opportunist.
Despite this minor incident, I disagree with the assessment that Galileo was a cynical
opportunist.


I agree with the assessment that Galileo was a patient genius. A patient genius can be
defined as someone who is very knowledgeable about a certain topic but has an
unquenchable thirst for more information about that topic and in willing to put in his time and
effort into obtaining these information. In my opinion, Galileo fits the description given as his
passion for immense liking for astronomy is what fuelled him to begin studying the planets
and he was willing to commit to the research. In 1609, Galileo stopped teaching mathematics
so as to pursue his strong attraction towards astronomy and optics. His passion for these
fields can be seen through his findings that he had gathered during the two decades he spent
researching and studying. That same year, he also invented the first telescope and used it to
observe the planets and the Sun, more importantly, their movements and appearance. Some
of his findings include, the moons of Venus, the circular shape of the planetary orbits and the
fact that the Sun rotates and all the other planets orbit around it. These findings would have
taken years and years to be observed and consolidated. Therefore, I conclude that Galileo
was a patient genius.


I disagree with the assessment that Galileo was a lucky engineer. The term lucky engineer
suggests that this person did not put in much hard work and instead, luck had guided this
person to success. From my research, I can tell that Galileo did not rely on luck to help him
with his studies. Instead, he had poured in his blood and sweat into his research for two entire
decades, discovering new things about the solar system throughout this period. The end
product of his hard work is the book he published. Therefore, saying that Galileo was a lucky
engineer is extremely false.


I disagree with the assessment that Galileo died a coward. Coward is defined as a person
who contemptibly lacks courage to endure hardships. Galileo fought to make his theories that
he had built on the Copernicus ideas known to the masses. However, he was unable to do so
as he was placed under house arrest and was banned from working or speaking about
Copernicus ideas. Though he was unable to work to improve his theories, he refused to give
up and began studying mechanics for the remaining eight years of his life and made
significant contributions the field. This shows that Galileo did not give in to the Church and
continued working to contribute for the advancement of the European society. Hence, Galileo
did not die a coward.


I agree with the assessment that Galileo died a modern Socrates. Both Socrates and Galileo
died as they had come up with opposing viewpoint as compared to what the rest of the
people had always believed as it challenges peoples view of reality and this causes the
people be frightened. Socrates had contributed to many fields such as psychology,
philosophy, ethics and reasoning, just as Galileo had done. In very religious societies,
challenging the knowledge that is being taught to the commoners causes insecurities to rise
in the society. For example, in the case of Galileo, when he challenged the ideas the Church
taught people, people were feeling very confused as to which piece of knowledge they should
listen to. The Church was enraged by this as the Church is the keepers of knowledge and
people who go against it are going against the social hierarchy, which in turn causes chaos to
arise. Since Socrates and Galileo created new theories of their own, they were both served
sentences by law. Socrates was allowed to choose his sentence, for which he chose death
while Galileo was under permanent house arrest until he suffered heart palpitations and
passed away. Hence, I think that Galileo had died a modern Socrates.




Bibliography:

The Galileo Project, http://galileo.rice.edu/chr/urban_viii.html, 27 February 2014

Stanford Solar Center, http://solar-center.stanford.edu/galileo/, 27 February 2014