Galileo's daughter : a drama of science, faith and love / Dava Sobel.
By: Sobel, Dava
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: London : Fourth Estate, 1999Description: 429 p. : ill., ports ; 20 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 1857027124.Subject(s): Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642. Correspondence | Galilei, Maria Celeste, 1600-1634 -- Correspondence | Astronomers -- Italy -- BiographyDDC classification: 520.92 | Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Lending | MTU Bishopstown Library Lending | 520.92 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00083413 |
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Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From the international best-selling author of Longitude, Galileo's Daughter is the fascinating story of the relationship between the great Italian scientist Galileo and his daughter, Virginia.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was the foremost scientist of his day, 'the father of modern physics - indeed of modern science altogether' in the words of Albert Einstein. Though he never left the Italy of his birth, his inventions and discoveries were heralded around the world. His telescopes allowed him to reveal a new reality in the heavens and to defend the astounding proposition that the Earth actually moves around the Sun. For this belief he faced the Holy Office of the Inquisition and was subsequently tried for heresy and threatened with torture. Galileo is brought to life here as never before - a man boldly compelled to explain the truths he discovered, human in his frailties and faith, devoted to family and, especially, to his daughter. Since there could be no hope of marriage for his illegitimate daughter Galileo placed her, aged thirteen, in a convent near him in Florence. She proved to be his greatest source of strength through his most difficult years. Through letters, contemporary writings, their voices are brought to vivid life and woven into Dava Sobel's compelling narrative. Galileo's Daughter tells the story of the most dramatic collision in history between science and religion. Dava Sobel illuminates an entire era, when the flamboyant Medici Grand Dukes became Galileo's patrons, when the Bubonic plague destroyed a generation and prayer was the most effective medicine, when one man fought to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed through his telescope. Galileo's Daughter is a rich and unforgettable story.
Bibliography: (pages 395-402) and index.
Part one: To Florence -- Part two: On Bellosguardo -- Part three: In Rome -- Part four: Care of the Tuscan embassy, Villa Medici, Rome -- Part five: At Siena -- Part six: From Arcetri.
Author notes provided by Syndetics
Dava Sobel was born in the Bronx, New York on June 15, 1947. She received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1969. She is a former New York Times science reporter and has contributed articles to Audubon, Discover, Life, Harvard Magazine, and The New Yorker.She has written several science related books including Letters to Father, The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time won the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love won the 1999 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for science and technology and a 2000 Christopher Award. She has co-authored six books with astronomer Frank Drake including Is Anyone Out There? She also co-authored with William J. H. Andrewes The Illustrated Longitude.
Because her work provides awareness of science and technology to the general public, she has received the Individual Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2001, the Bradford Washburn Award in 2001,the Klumpke-Roberts Award in 2008, and the Eduard Rhein Foundation in Germany in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)