Dec 26, 2016
In this episode we look at the 25 months leading up to the Congregation of the Inquisition censuring the two propositions related to the work of Copernicus; namely that the Earth moves and the Sun does not. We specifically examine the Letter to Castello and Foscarini's Letter as well as the role of Galileo's work and...
Dec 24, 2016
In the tradition of the Icelandic custom of Jolabokaflod, we read one of the earliest works of science fiction-Johannes Kepler's The Somnium. Break out some chocolate and settle in for an hour-long journey to the Moon.
Dec 18, 2016
In the first part of a three episode series on the emerging conflict involving Galileo, the Aristotelian natural philosophers of the Italian universities and the Catholic Church, we examine the factors that would lead to the initial confrontation of 1615 and 1616. These will include a debate that led to a...
Dec 11, 2016
In this supplemental episode, we look at the study of hydraulics related to pulling water up a pipe by Galileo Galilei. This leads us to the development of the mercury barometer by Torricelli and the investigations of atmospheric pressure and vacuums by Blaise Pascal and Florin Perier. This, in turns leads us to the...
Dec 4, 2016
In our third episode discussing the Scientific Revolution we look at the development of the linguistic device we call the fact from Latin legal ideas. We consider the work of Kepler and Galileo as well as the thinking of Blaise Pascal, Thomas Hobbes and Robert Boyle.