Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- I The uses of abstraction
- II Meditations on measurement
- 5 Biology in a darkened room
- 6 Physics in a darkened room
- 7 Subtle is the Lord
- 8 A Quaker mathematician
- 9 Richardson on war
- III The pleasures of computation
- IV Enigma variations
- V The pleasures of thought
- Appendix 1 Further reading
- Appendix 2 Some notations
- Appendix 3 Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
- Acknowledgements
5 - Biology in a darkened room
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- I The uses of abstraction
- II Meditations on measurement
- 5 Biology in a darkened room
- 6 Physics in a darkened room
- 7 Subtle is the Lord
- 8 A Quaker mathematician
- 9 Richardson on war
- III The pleasures of computation
- IV Enigma variations
- V The pleasures of thought
- Appendix 1 Further reading
- Appendix 2 Some notations
- Appendix 3 Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
- Acknowledgements
Summary
Galileo on falling bodies
In 1638 the Dutch publishers Elzivir† published a book by Galileo entitled Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences. Since the Catholic Church had put Galileo under permanent house arrest and forbidden the publication of any book written by him, the work is introduced by a preface in which Galileo expresses surprise that a manuscript intended for a few private friends should have found its way into the hands of the printers. In spite of the difficult circumstances of its composition‡, the book sparkles with good humour. It takes the form of a dialogue between three friends: Salviati, who puts the point of view of Galileo's new physics, Simplicio, who puts the old point of view and Sagredo, who represents the intelligent layman. Here they discuss Aristotle's view that things fall at a speed proportional to their weight.
SALVIATI … I greatly doubt that Aristotle ever tested by experiment whether it be true that two stones, one weighing ten times as much as the other, if allowed to fall at the same instant, from a height of, say, 100 cubits, would so differ in speed that, when the heavier had reached the ground, the other would not have fallen more than 10 cubits.
SIMPLICIO His language would seem to indicate that he had tried the experiment, because he says: We see the heavier; now the word see shows that he had made the experiment.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Pleasures of Counting , pp. 101 - 115Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996