“FATHER of modern physics – indeed, of modern science altogether.” That is Albert Einstein’s verdict on Galileo Galilei. But you won’t find this quote in John Heilbron’s scholarly biography. Instead, his aim is to situate Galileo in the Florence, Rome and Venice of his day, rather than retread the well-beaten path of his historical significance to science.
Besides being a mathematician, physicist and inventor, Galileo was a notable philosopher, writer, musician and artist, who could recite vast stretches of Italian poetry by heart. It was the clarity of his exposition of the Copernican system of the planets in our solar system…
