GALILEO 1609    INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS    CRONOLOGY
In the summer of 1609, a gift was given to the prince of Flanders, Maurice of Nassau, a «spy-glass made with such artifice, that it made things at a very great distance be seen to be very nearby».
With these words, in a letter sent to his brother-in-law, Galileo describes the curious plaything which had attracted his attention; once perfected shortly afterwards, it was to become a revolutionary instrument which was to radically change the concept of the physical universe, generating a new vision of the world.
Galileo was the first to have had the intuition to “improperly” use that plaything and to point it towards the sky to observe those far off things, the stars and the planets, ever a stimulation for man’s attention and curiosity.
After having understood the mechanism of the plaything’s workings, Galileo then reproduced it, applying two lenses at the extremities of a tube: one lens, flat on one side and concave on the other, to be placed close to the observing eye, and one lens, flat on one side and convex on the other, at the opposite end.		 Obiettivo aperto di cannocchiale in pelle, 1610, Fotografia di Franca Principe - IMSS Firenze

The instrument which Galileo built himself permitted the enlargement of things viewed by eight times, demonstrating itself, thus, to be superior to any “spy-glass” coming from the Low Countries. On 21st August 1609, Galileo took it to Venice to impress a group of noblemen; he held a demonstration on the top of the San Marco bell tower and, three days later, he presented it to the Doge as a gift, emphasising its great military worth both for the navy and for the army: in the case of an attack by foreign forces, by looking through this instrument, it would be possible to foresee an enemy’s approach a few hours in advance and to organise one’s defence or an eventual counter attack in better time. In recognition of the scientific success achieved, the government of the Venetian Republic conferred to Galileo a lifelong position at the University of Padua, with an annual salary of one thousand Florins.

For the further development of the instrument and to obtain one which would permit him to enlarge distant objects up to thirty times, Galileo required lenses which no optician was able to realise. So, encouraged by the success of the ingenious instruments he had already constructed (a geometric and military Compass, a thermoscope, “armed” magnets) he built the “telescope” with which he was able to observe the sky.

Using this instrument for observing the sky, between the autumn of 1609 and the spring of 1610, Galileo discovered a series of details which gradually and profoundly put into discussion the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic concept of the universe.
Galileo observed the Moon, the Milky Way, the satellites of Jupiter, “triple-bodied” Saturn, the phases of Venus as well as sunspots.
In March 1610, in Venice, the Sidereus Nuncius (‘The Starry Messenger’) was published, in which Galileo announced to the whole world the first extraordinary discoveries made by him through the use of the telescope; this paper was also, importantly, an example of modern scientific communication.

The Aristotelian-Ptolemaic tradition, for which the universe was divided into two spheres of different nature (the sphere beneath the Moon, in which the elements change continually, and the sphere above the Moon in which everything is unchangeable and eternal), was no longer able to explain the phenomena revealed by Galileo’s telescope. Change was not only a physical characteristic of the sublunar world but also of that above the Moon.

GALILEO 1609    INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS    CRONOLOGY

With the resolution 33 C/25, the ONU General Assembly approved the proposal (advanced by the Italian Government in 2003 and endorsed by Unesco in 2005) to declare 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy, in honour of the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s first astronomical use of the telescope.

The Niels Stensen Foundation, run by the Jesuit fathers of Florence, has for many years been committed to the organisation of initiatives of high cultural value in synergy with a number of national and international scholastic, university and research institutions. On the occasion of the Astronomic and Galilean celebrations, it has taken the opportunity to promote the organisation of an International Convention of Studies on the “Galileo Affair” with the intention of drawing to Florence the top experts in the field for an historical, philosophical and theological re-examination of this memorable issue.

 Ritratto di Galileo Galilei,Copia da Justus Suttermans, IMSS

The idea of organising a convention was given favourable reception on the part the institutions which have had an historical role in the Galileo issue. These organisations are, still now, involved in the transmission of the knowledge regarding the “affair” which commenced with the astronomical observations carried out by Galileo.

The project has obtained the consensus and the participation of 18 influential Institutions, all representative of important sectors of cultural and scientific life and historically involved in an issue and an event which have profoundly characterised Italian awareness and creativity. The tension generated, however, in the relations between the Church and various intellectual circles, which constitute the Institutional Committee, has never completely been resolved..

The Scientific Committee, delegated by the Institutional Committee, has defined the structure of the days of study and has invited the involvement of some of the most important scholars who, for various reasons, have been concerned with the “Galileo Affair” on an international level.

The three days of the Convention will each be subdivided into two sessions, and will be dedicated to re-examining the fundamental stages of the Galilean issue and confronting the perplexities which have formed over time. The Convention aims to contribute to the initiation of a serene, free and honest dialogue between scholars coming from different institutions and from diverse branches of learning.

The Convention is principally addressed to the scholars of human sciences but also to all those who may wish to take the opportunity to get to know or further their knowledge of the “Galileo Affair” in its different historical, philosophical and theological aspects.

In addition, on the occasion of the Convention, there will be other, collateral events, offering the general public the opportunity of getting closer to Galileo to whom is owed the lofty credit of having offered the to the men of his time and to ourselves the possibility of seeing with new eyes the (infinite and finite) things which surround us.
GALILEO 1609    INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS    CRONOLOGY
COMMITTEE    ORGANISATIONAL SECRETERY
The Congress is part of the International Year of Astronomy and has obtained:
  • HIGH PATRONAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC
  • PATRONAGE OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
  • PATRONAGE OF THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE IN ITALY
INSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
  • Prof. Francesco Beretta (CNRS - Université de Lyon)
  • Prof. Massimo Bucciantini (University of Siena)
  • Prof. Michele Camerota (University of Cagliari)
  • Prof. Pietro De Marco (University of Florence)
  • Prof. Paolo Galluzzi (Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence)
  • Prof. Stefano Miniati (University of Siena)
  • Prof. Paolo Ponzio (University of Bari)
  • Prof. Paolo Rossi (The Lincean Accademy)
PROMOTER COMMITTEE
COMMITTEE    ORGANISATIONAL SECRETERY
ORGANISATIONAL SECRETERY
  • P. ENNIO BROVEDANI SJ (PRESIDENT STENSEN FOUNDATION)
  • NADIA ALPI (SECRETARY STENSEN FOUNDATION)
  • MICHELE CROCCHIOLA (GENERAL CO-ORDINATION STENSEN FOUNDATION)
  • GIUSEPPE GULIZIA (PHILOSOPHERS GROUP STENSEN|EPOCHÉ)
  • KATIA ROSSI (PHILOSOPHERS GROUP STENSEN|EPOCHÉ)
  • SIMONA DILEO (STAFF STENSEN FOUNDATION)
  • MICHELE RUINI (GRAPHICS STENSEN FOUNDATION)
  • ANTONIO PIROZZI (PRESS OFFICE STENSEN FOUNDATION)
  • JACOPO STORNI (PRESS OFFICE STENSEN FOUNDATION)
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OPENING LECTURES - Tuesday 26th May 2009 - Basilica of Santa Croce - Florence
Afternoon
17.00 Lectio Magistralis   [ Paolo Rossi ]
Lectio Magistralis   [ Nicola Cabibbo ]
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For all participants in the Congress “The Galileo Affair” we will reserve seats for the opening day (26 May) at Basilica of Santa Croce
YY 2009
MM MAY
DD 26    27    28    29    30
PRIMA GIORNATA - Mercoledì 27th maggio 2009 - Palazzo dei Congressi
Morning: 1st session: Cosmology and Theology: the Condemnation of Copernicanism, 1616
Chairman: Cesare Vasoli
08.30 Accreditation
09.15 Session opening
09.30 Ecclesiastical censorship and natural philosophy in the years of Galileo   [ Vittorio Frajese ]
10.00 Copernicanism and Theology   [ Mauro Pesce ]
10.30 Coffee-break
11.00 Des nouveautés célestes aux textes sacrés   [ Maurice Clavelin ]
11.30 A Theological Comparison: Bellarmino, Campanella, Foscarini   [ Paolo Ponzio ]
12.00 The Jesuits: Transmitters of Galilean Science   [ Rivka Feldhay ]
12.30 Discussion
13.00 Lunch
 
Afternoon: 2nd session: The two trials: considerations and contexts
15.00 Nature and Holy Scriptures   [ Pietro Redondi ]
15.30 The Trial in 1633   [ Annibale Fantoli ]
16.00 The mechanisms of social control and of the system of protection: The Farnese Family and Galileo   [ Federica Favino ]
16.30 Coffee-break
17.00 “Mirabile e veramente angelica dottrina": Galileo and Urban VIII’s argument   [ Luca Bianchi ]
17.30 Discussion
18.30 Session closing
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YY 2009
MM MAY
DD 26    27    28    29    30
SECOND DAY - Thursday 28th May 2009 – Palazzo dei Congressi
Morning: 1st session: The Genesis of the Galileo Affair I
Chairman: Maurice Clavelin
08.30 Accreditation
09.15 Session opening
09.30 The "Galileo Affair" in the Italian Culture of the 17th Century   [ Franco Motta ]
10.00 The "Galileo Affair" in the Italian Culture of the 17th Century   [ Franco Giudice ]
10.30 Coffee-break
11.00 Les premiers effets de ‘l’affaire Galilée’ chez les libertins et philosophes français   [ Isabelle Pantin ]
11.30 Galileo as the unpunished artist. Peiresc’s argument   [ Horst Bredekamp ]
12.00 Galileo and the Copernican accomodatio   [ Michele Camerota ]
12.30 Discussion
13.00 Lunch
 
Afternoon: 2nd session: The Genesis of the Galileo Affair II
15.00 The "Galileo Affair" and theological reflection   [ Jean-Robert Armogathe ]
15.30 Scientific activity from the Ecclesiastical Censors’ perspective, from the Licet ab initio (1542) to the Sollicita ac provida (1753)   [ Ugo Baldini ]
16.00 The Enlightenment and the Galileo Affair   [ Vincenzo Ferrone ]
16.30 Coffee-break
17.00 The "Galileo Affair" and the Holy Office 1820-1822: End of the Controversy?   [ Francesco Beretta ]
17.30 Discussion
18.30 Session closing
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YY 2009
MM MAY
DD 26    27    28    29    30
THIRD DAY - Friday 29th May 2009 – Palazzo dei Congressi Morning
Morning: 1st session: The Galileo Affair: the 1800’s
Chairman: Sergio Givone
08.30 Accreditation
09.15 Session opening
09.30 Galileo and Bruno “martyrs for Freethought”   [ Michele Ciliberto ]
10.00 Galileo and the passions of the Resorgimento.   [ Massimo Bucciantini ]
10.30 Coffee-break
11.00 The "Galileo Affair" and the Neotomists of the 1800’s   [ Luciano Malusa ]
11.30 The "Galileo Affair" and the “question biblique”   [ Claus Arnold ]
12.00 La représentation de Galilée dans la peinture du XIXe siècle   [ François de Vergnette ]
12.30 Discussion
13.00 Lunch
 
Afternoon: 2nd session: The Galileo Affair: the 1900’s
15.00 Galilée et Bellarmin entre Duhem et Feyerabend   [ Jean-François Stoffel ]
15.30 Galileo during the Nazi Time   [ Volker R. Remmert ]
16.00 The Second Vatican Council, Paschini and Galileo   [ Alberto Melloni ]
16.30 Coffee-break
17.00 Galileo judged: Urban VIII to John Paul II   [ George Coyne ]
17.30 Discussion
18.30 Session closing
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DD 26    27    28    29    30   
CLOSING EVENT – Saturday 30th May 2009 - Villa “il Gioiello” – Arcetri (Florence)
Galileo Today
10.30 [ Evandro Agazzi ]
[ Paolo Galluzzi ]
[ Paolo Prodi ]
[ Adriano Prosperi ]
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SPEAKERS
Evandro Agazzi
BIO: (Bergamo, Italy 1934). Having finished studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of Milan and physics at the State High school of the same city, he then went on to specialise at Oxford, Marburg and Münster. In 1963, he qualified for university teaching in Philosophy of Science and, in l966, in Mathematical Logic. He has taught in the Faculty of Sciences at Genoa University, the State High School in Pisa and at the Catholic University in Milan. Since 1970, he has been Professor of the Philosophy of Science and, since 1983, of Theoretical Philosophy at Genoa University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. From 1979 to 1986 he also held the chair of Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature at Fribourg University in Switzerland. He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Berne, Geneva, Düsseldorf, Pittsburgh and Stanford and is Doctor honoris causa at the Argentinain Universities of Cordoba, Santiago del Estero, Cuyo-Mendoza, of the University Ricardo Palma di Lima and at Urbino University. He has acted as chairman for the Italian Philosophical Society, the Italian Society of Logic and Philosophy of the Sciences, the Swiss Society of Logic and Philosophy of the Sciences, the International Federation of Philosophical Societies and the ‘Institut International de Philosophie’. Of the latter two institutions he is now Honorary President. Currently, he is president of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences. Bioetica. His works include (over 70 volumes and 800 articles) to name only a few: Temi e Problemi di Filosofia della Fisica, 1969; (with L. Geymonat and F. Minazzi) Filosofia, Scienza e Verità, l989; La Logica Simbolica, 1990; Il Bene, il Male, la Scienza, 1992; Cultura Scientifica e Interdisciplinarità 1994; Filosofia della Natura, Scienza e Cosmologia, 1995; Le Geometrie Non Euclidee e i Fondamenti della Geometria, 1998; Paideia Verità Educazione, 1999; (with F. Minazzi) Science and Ethics. The Axiological Contexts of Science, 2008; Time in the Different Scientific Approaches/Le temps Appréhendé à Travers Diffèrentes Disciplines, 2008; Scienza (interview by Giuseppe Bertagna), 2008; Le Rivoluzioni Scientifiche e il Mondo Moderno, 2008.
ABSTRACT:
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Evandro Agazzi
Jean-Robert Armogathe
BIO: He is Director of Studies for the History of Religious and Scientific Ideas in Modern Europe at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes of Paris as well as being member of the International Academy of the History and Philosophy of Sciences. He is priest of the Diocese of Paris and editor of the «Communio» review. In Italy, he is a member of the Scientific Committee at the Centre for the Study of Descartes and the Philosophy of the Sixteen Hundreds at Lecce University and of the Doctoral Commission in the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at the “La Sapienza” University, Rome. In his works, he investigates the genesis and development of Philosophical and Theological thought in the Modern Era, particularly regarding Cartesianism. His more recent works include: Monde Médiéval et Société Chartraine (edited by, Paris 1997); Raison d’Eglise (Paris 2001); Divine Trinité (Paris 2001); Bibliographie Cartésienne (1960-1996) (edited by, Lecce 2003); L’Antéchrist à l’âge Classique: Exégèse et Politique (Paris 2004 translated into Italian ‘L’Anticristo nell’età moderna. Esegesi e politica’)
ABSTRACT:
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Claus Arnold
BIO: (Ravensburg, Württemberg, 1965) A graduate in theology, educated at Tubingen and at Oxford, he qualified for university teaching in the History of the Church in 2002/03. He has taught at the faculty of Catholic Theology at Münster and, at present, teaches the History of the Church in the Department of Catholic Theology a the Goethe-Universität. Author of Grenzen der Theologischen Konfessionalisierung (Römische Inquisition und Indexkongregation bd. 10, 2008) and of Antimodernismo e Magistero Romano: la Redazione della Pascendi, in the «Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo», 5/2.
ABSTRACT: It has been claimed that the Encyclical “Providentissimus Deus” of Pope Leo XIII. (1893) took up implicitly points from Galileos letters to Castelli and Christina (cf. e.g. M. A. Finocchiaro, Retrying Galileo, 1633-1992, 2005, pp. 263-266). The “biblical question” which loomed behind “Providentissimus” came to new crisis from 1900 onwards when the Roman Congregations of the Index and the Inquisition dealt with the case of Alfred Loisy, who was finally excommunicated in 1908. The paper will explore in how far the case of Galileo was present implicitly and explicitly in the internal curial discussions on Loisy’s exegesis.
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Ugo Baldini
BIO: (Capoliveri – Elba Island - Italy 1943). Professor of Modern History in the Faculty of Political Sciences at Padua University, his studies are mainly concerned with the History of Science in Italy from the late Fifteen Hundreds to the Early Eighteen Hundreds. In particular, he has made in depth studies regarding the scientific activity of the ‘Company of Jesus’ until its suppression in 1773. Author of about 200 publications, amongst which the paper La Scuola Galileiana nel v. III degli Annali della Storia d’Italia Einaudi and the volumes: Legem Impone Subactis. Studi su Filosofia e Scienza dei Gesuiti in Italia (Chieti 1992); Saggi sulla Cultura della Compagnia di Gesù (Padova 2000). He wrote the GALILEI Galileo «entry» for the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, edited by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, and edited the collection of essays of various authors Christoph Clavius e l'Attività Scientifica dei Gesuiti nell'Età di Galileo (1995).
ABSTRACT:
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Francesco Beretta
BIO: He is researcher at the CNRS (Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes, Lyon). He has taught at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and Lausanne, at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His field of research includes the production of orthodoxy in the Catholic intellectual world, in the modern and contemporary epochs as well as humanist informatics. His publications, amongst others, include Monseigneur d'Hulst et la Science Chrétienne. Portrait d'un Intellectuel, Paris, Beauchesne, 1996; (dir.), Galilée en Procès, Galilée réhabilité?, Saint-Maurice, Editions Saint-Augustin, 2005; «Orthodoxie Philosophique et Inquisition Romaine au 16e -17e Siècles. Un Essai d’Interprétation», Historia Philosophica 3 (2005), 67-96.
ABSTRACT: With two rulings, respectively in 1820 and in 1822, at this point, the congregation of the Holy Office decided to permit the publication, without any restrictions, of the works which affirmed the reality of the Heliocentric system. These rulings were preceded by lengthy debates within the censor organisms in Rome with regard to the timeliness and the necessity of such a decision. This presentation proposes to analyse the documents, most of which are published, produced on this occasion and to pinpoint the various different points of view in the context of the intellectual world of that time. This will permit us to understand why neither these rulings, or the removal of Galileo’s ‘Dialogue’ from the Index in 1835, represented a 'closure' of the Galilei affair – destined to be reopened in regard to other matters such as the historicity of the Bible or Darwinism, up to the Nineteen Hundreds.
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Luca Bianchi
BIO: Luca Bianchi is professor of the History of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Piemonte Orientale (East Piedmont University) in Vercelli; he has also taught at the University of Padua and as adjunct professor, at the University of Lausanne (2002) as well as at the University of Fribourg (2003) and at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris (1996 and 2005). Specialist in the Aristotelian and ‘Averroist’ traditions, he has dedicated numerous studies to Natural Philosophy, to Ethics and to the Doctrinal Censorships between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance periods. His more recent books include: Censure et Liberté Intellectuelle à l’Université de Paris (XIII – XIV siècles), Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1999; Studi sull’Aristotelismo del Rinascimento, Il Poligrafo, Padua 2003; Pour Une Histoire de la “Double Vérité”, Vrin, Paris 2008.
ABSTRACT: It is well known that, whilst undergoing the complicated negotiations to obtain the authorisation for printing the Dialogue, Galileo received the order, from the Master of the Holy Palace, to include in the work the “medicina del fine”, that is, the argument based on the notion of Divine Omnipotence which Urban VIII had formulated against the Copernican hypothesis. It is likewise well known that the way in which Galileo treated the Pontiff’s objection, which had been personally communicated to him since 1616, played a significant role in the Trial of 1633. But what was Galileo’s opinion regarding this objection? Are there, in the Dialogue or in other Galilean texts, hints which may permit us to understand this? And how should we interpret Salviati’s enigmatic response which historians have evaluated in profoundly differing ways? Is it true, as some believe, that, here, Galileo reveals he agrees with the Pontiff’s objection, be it due either to belief or to caution? Is it true, as others, however, believe that the text betrays an element of irony, or even of sarcasm? In my address, I shall be seeking an answer to these questions, proposing an alternative portrayal of this controversial Galilean passage, starting from a careful analysis of its sources, both explicit and implicit.
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Luca Bianchi
Massimo Bucciantini
BIO: Teaches History of Science at the Siena-Arezzo University. His publications include: Contro Galileo: alle origini dell'affaire (Olschki 1995), Galileo e Keplero. Filosofia, cosmologia e teologia nell'Età della Controriforma (Einaudi 2003, Les Belles Lettres 2008), Italo Calvino e la scienza (Donzelli 2007). Together with Michele Camerota, he manages the "Galilaeana. Journal of Galilean Studies" review.
ABSTRACT: In the years 1820-1870, the Galileo issue was more animated than ever, intertwining as well with the restless events of Italian politics. Galileo the patriot, Galileo the courageous fighter for truth and freedom, Galileo, the victim of the "condensatori di tenebre", of those, that is, who had extinguished every intellectual and moral life in Italy. A 'militant' history which is still awaiting its reconstruction and to be told in all its detail; a history made up of continual coups de theatre and of still relatively unknown matters.
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Massimo Bucciantini
Nicola Cabibbo
BIO: (Rome, 1935) Cabibbo is an Italian physicist best known for introducing the particles of the Cabibbo angle into the realm of Physics. His studies on weak nuclear interaction, stemming from the need to explain the behaviour of strange particles, thanks to the development of the original idea proposed by him in 1963, have permitted the formulation of the hypothesis of the existence of at least three generations of quarks. This hypothesis was used to explain, thanks to the introduction of the CKM Matrix, CP symmetry violation. At present, he is Professor of the Physics of elementary particles at the La Sapienza University in Rome, the city where he lives and conducts his research dedicated to the study of lattice QCD and, within the sphere of the APEnext project, to the planning of computer arrays able to carry out the calculations required by the theory. On a number of occasions, as President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the institution responsible for advising the Catholic Pope on all scientific matters, he has participated in ethical debates as well as in those regarding the relationship between faith and science.
ABSTRACT:
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Camerota
BIO: He teaches the History of Science at the University of Cagliari. He is the author of a number of studies on the scientific culture of the Early Modern Age, amongst which: Gli scritti ‘de motu antiquiora’ di Galileo Galilei: il ms. Gal. 71. Un’Analisi Storico-Critica (Cagliari, Cuec, 1992), All’Alba della Scienza Galileiana. Michel Varro e il suo ‘de motu tractatus’ (with M.O. Helbing, Cagliari, Cuec, 2000), Galileo e il Parnaso Tychonico (with O. Besomi, Florence, Olschki, 2000), Galileo Galilei e la Cultura Scientifica nell'Età della Controriforma (Rome, Salerno, 2004). He has recently compiled the “Galileo Galilei” headword text for the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Together with Massimo Bucciantini, he is editor of the Galilean journal, Journal of Galilean Studies.
ABSTRACT: The thesis according to which, when dealing with questions concerning the purely natural dominion, the scriptures “accommodate” themselves to (that is, adapt themselves to) the limited understanding of the uneducated and to the typical notions of good sense represented, in the Early Modern Age, a leitmotiv in the discussions of the relationships between Scientific Astronomy and Holy Texts, as was expounded by the pro-Copernican promoters. In effect, starting from one of the closest Copernicus “disciples”, Georg Joachim Rheticus, the defenders of the Copernican system (from Giordano Bruno to Christoph Rothmann and Johannes Kepler) almost all advanced – albeit with significant differences of emphasis – the concept (dating at least as far back as St. Augustine) of a biblical exposition which was adapted to the mentality and to the comprehensive ability of the populace. The most significant aspect of Galileo’s resumption of the so-called “Principle of Accommodation” (or Accomodatio) lies in its contextualisation within a comprehensive strategy set out to define a clean-cut separation between scientific research and religious dogma. Such a strategy is eminently based on the recognition of a special distinction between two diverse interpretations of the Word of God: the scriptural and the natural. In this last instance, the aggregate of natural phenomena constitutes – in Galileo’s opinion – a language of “things” and of events, upheld by an established norm of reality, and is subordinate, therefore, to the constraints of the intransigence of its formulation. The Word of God, in fact, assumes, in naturalibus the features of a “discourse” which is «inexorable and immutable and without care that its innermost reasons and methods of operating are or are not exposed to the understanding of mankind». On the contrary, however, the Galilean perspective of the language of the Scriptures is that of a word-language, linked, like any verbal language, to convention. Indeed, in the face of such conventionalities, the main meaning of the expressions of the Scriptures, assumes and, indeed, often requires an interpretation which goes beyond the literal immediacy, and is capable, therefore, if this is the case, of considering the necessity to “accommodate itself” to the good sense and to the reduced discernment of the “common people”. This report will seek to gather the special attributes of the Accomodatio just as it was formulated by Galileo, investigating the connections with the more general scope of reference of his hermeneutic perspective and attempting to individuate the sources and the influences from which the Pisan scientist’s discourse originated.
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Maurice Clavelin
BIO: He is Professor emeritus at the Sorbonne where, from 1971 to 1995, he held the professorship of History of Science and Philosophy of Science. His publications include: Galilée Copernicien (2004), Le Relativisme est-il Résistible? (with R. Boudon, 1994), La Philosophie Naturelle de Galilée (1968, republished 1996), 'Discours et Démonstrations Mathématiques' de Galilée (translated with commentary, 1970, republished 1995), as well as a number of works concerning questions regarding the History of Science and the Philosophy of Contemporary Knowledge.
ABSTRACT: The aim of this lecture is to reconstruct –from the point of view of the History of Science- the precise reasons which led Galileo, after the spectacular discoveries of the 1609-1612 years, to plead passionately for a free confrontation between the geocentric and heliocentric cosmologies, and, in a second time, to undertake an exegesis of some crucial biblical texts. The first part of the lecture will bring out the consequences that these discoveries entailed respectively for geocentrism and heliocentrism; briefly : the loss of its traditional physicophilosophical support for the former, the gain of an impressive empirical relevance for the second. Hence the problem : how to save geocentrism, once its cosmological basis had been discredited ? The second part will analyse how Galileo strove to neutralize the theologians’appeal to those texts of the Holy Scripture where motion is clearly attributed to the Sun; a special attention will be given to the argument developed in the letter to the Grand Duchess Christina in order to prove the physical irrelevance of the most famous of these texts : the one in which we can read that the Sun was halted by Joshua. Finally, some remarks will be devoted to the consequences of the 1616 decrees for the geocentric doctrine itself. It will be shown that the post 1616 geocentrism is in no way, cosmologically speaking, a simple continuation of the ancient geocentrism.
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George Coyne sj
BIO: (Baltimore, Maryland, 1933). He graduated in 1958 from Fordham University, New York City with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy. He obtains a degree in Astronomy at Georgetown University in 1962. In 1976, he is made Senior Research Fellow at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona (UA). Subsequently, he is made Director at the UA's Catalina Observatory and associate Director of the LPL. In 1979-80 he holds the place of Acting Director of the UA Steward Observatory adjunct professor in the UA Astronomy Department. From 1978 to 2006 he was Director of the Specola Vaticana, of which today he is now Director Emeritus and President of the Foundation. His more recent publications include: Faith and Knowledge Toward a New Meeting of Science and Theology (2007) and, with E. Boncinelli, L'Universo e il Senso della Vita. Un Ateo e un Credente: Due Uomini di Scienza a Confronto (2008).
ABSTRACT: On October 31, 1992, John Paul II in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences said that one of the lessons of the Galileo affair is that we now have a more correct understanding of the authority that is proper to the Church and that: “From the Galileo case one can draw a lesson which applies to us today, in view of analogous situations which come forth today and which may come forth in the future.” Just 350 years before, Pope Urban VIII had declared that Galileo had made himself guilty of an “opinion very false and very erroneous and which had given scandal to the whole Christian world.” The contrast between these two official Church judgments on Galileo separated by a 350- year period is enormous. The question is: What does it bode for the next 350 years? So the import of my paper is not just academic; it attempts to present a judgment on the past and on the present with a view to the future
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François De Vergnette
BIO: A researcher into the History of Contemporary Art at the University of Lyon 3 – Jean Moulin and member of the UMR 5190 (LARHRA-RESEA, Laboratory of Rhone - Alps History Research). He obtained the title of Doctor of Research at the University of Paris X - Nanterre with a thesis dedicated to the painter of French history, Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). His research and publications concern the representation of the History of French painting in the 19th Century, the links between the latter and historiography, monumental painting and art criticism. He is a member of the Equipe Religions Sociétés et Acculturations.
ABSTRACT:
In the 19th century, the painted iconography of Galileo became important. This was an echo of the historiographical and ideological debates. In a romantic and anticlerical vision, the painters sided with the victim of the Inquisition: at the epoch of the trial before his judges (especially Robert Fleury in the most famous picture of the 19th century dedicated to the astronomer, now preserved at the Louvre museum), or in prison, feet enchained, often in similarity with the other great discoverer of the modern age, Christopher Columbus, who was also imprisoned. An enchained Galileo is portrayed again in the great historical syntheses dear to 19th century painters in France and Germany. In France, during the Second Empire, in 1867, an ultramundane painter, Charles Müller, responds to this anticlerical iconography through a representation, which could have been more accurate historically, of Galileo in a less oppressive prison, the Archbishop’s Palace in Siena. Nevertheless, there are also pictures which, ideologically, are more neutral, of Galileo the scientist, as he presents his telescope to the Doge, or as he observes the stars. I shall analyse the written sources of these works, the reception of these paintings in art criticism and the representations of Galileo, in particular, used in the sphere of the debates on teaching. I shall close my presentation with the comparison between this pictorial iconography and the representation of Galileo in the school books of the end of the 19th century.
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Annibale Fantoli
BIO: Born in Tripoli (Libya) in 1924. He graduated from the "La Sapienza" University in Rome with a thesis on Astronomy published by the Lincean Academy and in Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 1960 to 1991, he taught History and the Philosophy of Science at a number of Japanese universities. He is the author of numerous publications, many of which in Japanese, and largely concerned with Galilean issues. He is also author of the book Galileo. Per il Copernicanesimo e per la Chiesa, translated into seven languages; Il Caso Galileo and also of a story regarding the concept of extraterrestrial life (Gli Extraterrestri). Since 1991, he has been living with his family in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) where he is an Adjunct Professor at the University.
ABSTRACT: The Trial of Galileo, one of the most important of the 17th century, if not of the whole of the history of European thought, has not ceased to be at the centre of historical research regarding the relations between the newly-born Modern Science and the Catholic Church. In this paper, I propose to examine the reasons for which Galileo was tried and condemned to adjuration since "vehemently suspected of heresy". To this end, I shall examine the following questions. 1) What part did Urban VIII play in the Galilean project of the Dialogue? Was he informed of the summons communicated to Galileo by Bellarmino in February 1616? Up to which point had he been responsible for granting an Imprimatur to the book? Why did he feel "deceived" by the scientist with the publication of the Dialogue? What was the importance, as far as regards his indignation, of the fact that his theological argument, which excluded the possibility of physical proof of Copernicanism, was voiced by Simplicio? 2) What role did the "discovery" of the document with Segizzi’s injunction have in the decision to convoke Galileo to the Holy Office? What credibility does the thesis of the falsification of the document, which was set up for this purpose, have in 1632? 3) The result of the first interrogation and the meaning of the subsequent initiative, aside from the trial, of the Commissary Maculano. Was the purpose of this initiative purely a contrivance of the Inquisition to obtain a confession from Galileo? 4) The final motive of the condemnation. I shall examine, in this regard, two differing interpretations proposed in recent years. A) According to Beretta (1999), the condemnation was the result of the Urban VIII’s use of summary proceedings to justify his magisterial verdict. The condemnation authoritatively clarified the ambiguity present in the decree of the Index (1616). On the basis of this verdict, Galileo was found guilty of upholding a false conception of faith and was therefore - since vehemently suspected of heresy – obliged to renounce it. B) according to Speller (2008), this was the result of a compromise between a faction of cardinals headed by Urban VIII himself, which wished to condemn Galileo for formal heresy (caused by his refusal of the notion of Divine Omnipotence), resulting in life imprisonment in the prisons of the Holy Office, and a more moderate faction of cardinals, headed by Francesco Barberini. 5) Conclusion: was the condemnation valid in the sight of justice?
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Federica Favino
BIO: Federica Favino is Doctor in Philosophy (La Sapienza University in Rome) and Doctor of research in the History of European Society (Federico II University in Naples – VIII eighth cycle). She has had a research contract at the Istituto Universitario Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples (2000-2004), was a Jean François Malle Fellow at The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies – Villa I Tatti in Florence (2004-2005) and a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow at the Centre A. Koyré – CNRS in Paris (2005-2007). At present, she is a Marie Curie - European Reintegration Grant Fellow at the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at La Sapienza University in Rome and teaches the History of Science and Technology at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the same University. She is the author of numerous essays concerning Giovanni Battista Ciampoli, concerning the teaching of Science at the Universities and at the colleges of the religious orders in Rome, and concerning the diffusion of the New Science in the settings of the Roman Curia and of the Roman Court between the 17th and the 18th century.
ABSTRACT: The mechanisms of social control and the system of protection: the Farnese family of Rome and Galileo With the exception of the very particular case of the Cesi family, there has been very little investigation into the success which Galileo’s personage and works met with in the Aristocratic society of Rome of his times. On the one hand, the curiosity concerning the telescope and the resulting astronomical observations led to the enrichment of the cultural horizons of this particularly capricious and fickle public. The latter, the élite of Rome, however, was not completely impervious to the doubts which those observations then raised on the system of knowledge with which they had been educated. For Galileo, the success thus achieved not only helped in amplifying his fame and his acclaim, but it also became an instrument capable of activating powerful sources of protection which revealed themselves to be important at various critical moments of his battle in favour of Copernicanism. This presentation intends to examine the progress of these dynamics in a specific group – the «clan» of the Farnese of Rome, or rather, the group of families in Rome linked by kin and by their loyalty to the dukes of Parma since the times of Pope Paul III – and in a precise moment of Galileo’s life – the good period which passed between the journey to Rome in 1610 and the first trial. A look at the scale of the local «micro-politics» consents the return of facts and personages well known also to the Galilean historiography to a context in which the former were not an exception and in which Galileo was not a passing fashion.
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Federica Favino
Rivka Feldhay
BIO: Rivka Feldhay teaches history of science and intellectual history in Tel Aviv University. In the years 1997-2003 she was director of the Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas. Last fall she has won the competition for establishing the Mierva Center for Humanities at Tel Aviv University. Among her Publications: R. Feldhay, Galileo and the Church: Political Inquisition or Critical Dialogue? Cambridge University Press 1995; R. Feldhay, “Recent Narratives of Galileo and the Church or: The Three Dogmas of the Counter-Reformation”, Science in Context (2000), 13: 4, pp. 489-509; R. Feldhay, “Religion”, in The Cambridge History of Science, vol. 3. Part IV. Cultural Meanings of Natural Knowledge, edited by K. Park & L. Daston, Cambridge 2006.
ABSTRACT: As a historian working in the field of science and religion for many years, I have learned how much Jesuits have been perceived, in popular imagination, as hostile to the newly emerging science of the 17th century, and especially to Galileo's science. The tendency to label a collective with an image is of course natural, human, I would say, but much too human. The trouble is that such images succeed in occluding some very important historical features of science in the 17th century. In many senses the prejudice against Jesuits grew out of the cultural trauma of the trial of Galileo. In modern times, that collective trauma has been construed in the form of a sharp dichotomy between “ancients” and moderns”. Such dichotomies constrain research rather than promote it. What is usually forgotten is that between the 16th and 18th century, for more than 200 years, most of the Catholic elite, and Catholic scientists in particular, were educated and socialized in Jesuit schools. The Jesuits cared for more than 200,000 children and adolescents each year, and produced Torricelli, Descartes, Mersenne, Fontenelle, Laplace, Volta, Diderot, Helvétius, Condorcet, Turgot, Voltaire, Vico, and Muratori, to name but a few (Feingold 2003, p. 38) My aim this evening will be to tell a different story about the Jesuits. I will argue that the Jesuits' religious mission was not anti-science. On the contrary, it was precisely the religious mission that pushed them to explore, teach, criticize and argue with the ideas of those "savants" identified with the "moderns". Thus, what we now call "science" and the Jesuits named "physico-mathematics" – the exploration of physical phenomena with mathematical methods - had a central and very important place in Jesuit education. In the context of the Jesuit educational system, however, new ideas were presented in a form that seems alien to our modern view of science. It was not alien, I argue, to the historical practices of Kepler, Galileo and Descartes.
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Vincenzo Ferrone
BIO: (Born in Lucera, FG, Italy 1954). Professor of Modern History at Turin University. He was a scholarship holder at the Clark Memorial Library, UCLA, Los Angeles in 1985 and Director of Research at the Maison de l'Homme in Paris in 1995. He was also a Professeur Invité at the Institut d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine (CNRS) from 1995 – 1996, at the Ècole Normale Supérieure in 1998 and at the Collège de France in the year 2000. At present he is a scholar of the History of European Culture of the 17th and 18th century. He has published: Scienza, Natura, Religione. Mondo Newtoniano e Cultura Italiana nel Primo Settecento (1982), I Profeti dell'Illuminismo (2000), L'Illuminismo nella Cultura Contemporanea (2002), La Società Giusta ed Equa. Repubblicanesimo e Diritti dell'Uomo in Gaetano Filangieri (2005), Una Scienzaper l'Uomo. Illuminismo e Rivoluzione Scientifica nell'Europa del Settecento (2007).
ABSTRACT:
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Vincenzo Ferrone
Vittorio Frajese
BIO: (Rome, 1957). Lecturer on Modern History at the La Sapienza University in Rome, concerned with the political-religious history of the Early Modern Age and with the History of Political Thought. He edited the vernacular edition of, La Monarchia del Messia (1995) by Campanella. His major publications include: Sarpi scettico. Stato e Chiesa a Venezia tra Cinque e Seicento (1994), Profezia e machiavellismo. Il giovane Campanella (2002) and Nascita dell'Indice. La censura ecclesiastica dal Rinascimento alla Controriforma (2006).
ABSTRACT: This presentation is dedicated to the significance of the book, the censorship and the Congregation of the Index in the first episode of the trial of Galileo in 1616. In this regard, the analysis addresses the characteristics of the proceedings and of the Index’s Decree, published on 5th March 1616, which led to the suspension of Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus Orbium. The analysis of the Decree and of the powers attributed to the Congregation of the Index clarifies how this decree was not and cannot be considered a doctrinal condemnation of Copernicanism, nor a masterly act of papal authority. This leads to the conclusion that the trial of 1633 was a creative and constitutive act with which Pope Barberini defined Copernican astronomy as heretical, evaluated its presence in the Dialogo dei Massimi Sistemi and charged its author with the criminal responsibility for it. The presentation then turns to trace a brief picture of the expansion of censorship over the philosophical field, to finally evaluate suppositions and characteristics of the attitude taken by Bellarmino on the subject of Copernicanism
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Paolo Galluzzi
BIO: (Florence, 1942) He studied at Florence University and graduated in 1968 under the guidance of Eugenio Garin. He was Professor of the History of Science at Siena University from the academic years 1979-80 until 1993-94. Since 1994, he has been teaching the History of Science at Florence University. Since 1982, he has been responsible for managing the National Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence. He was part of the Consiglio Nazionale dei Beni Culturali e Ambientali (National Council for Culture and the Environment) and sits on the scientific councils of a number of important Italian and foreign reviews and cultural institutions. He is a member of the National Lincean Academy and of the Academy of Sciences in Sweden. He is chairman if the International Scientific Committee established by the Nobel Foundation of Stockholm and is responsible for the realisation of the Nobel Museum. At present, he is President of the Commission for the National Edition of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts and drawings. His numerous publications are principally concerned with the scientists and engineers of the Renaissance (Leonardo and his times), the science of the Renaissance Era, scientific terminology, Galileo and his School, the history of the European Scientific Academies, the history of the Historiography of Science, the history of scientific instruments, technical-scientific museums and collectionism. He has also dedicated himself to the history of scientific research in post-unification Italy and to thoughts and projects concerning the organisation of research and the diffusion of scientific culture. He has managed the Storia della Scienza Einaudi and conceived and directed the «Biblioteca della Scienza Italiana» editorial series. Lastly, he has programmed and realised the contents of many exhibitions on scientific-historical themes which have been presented in Italy and abroad as well as numerous information systems and Hypertexts on digital support systems concerning the History of Science and Technology.
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Franco Giudice
BIO: He has obtained a Research Doctorate in the History of Science at Florence University and is editor of the «Galilaeana» review. He teaches the History of Science and Technology at Bergamo University and is author of Luce e visione. Thomas Hobbes e la scienza dell’ottica (1999). He is involved in the debates on Optics between the end of the Fifteen- and throughout the Sixteen Hundreds. Recently, he has edited Isaac Newton’s Scritti di ottica for the BUR.
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Luciano Malusa
BIO: Born in 1942, he studied Philosophy at Padua University, graduating in 1964 with Carlo Giacon. In 1969, he became assistant to the professorship of Giovanni Santinello. Appointed temporarily as Professor of the History of Philosophy, in 1982, he was confirmed as Associate Professor. 1987 saw him appointed as extraordinary Professor to the chair of the History of Contemporary Philosophy at Verona University. He transferred to Genoa University in 1990 where he was Professor with the chair of the History of Philosophy. Up until 2008, he taught historical-philosophical disciplines at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at Genoa University, being co-ordinator of the Doctorate of Philosophy. His other appointments have been Director of the Philosophy Department (1991-98), President of the Board for the degree course in Philosophy (2001-08); President of the Centre of library services. He has held the post of President of the Ligurian Philosophical Association (AFL) and of national President of the Italian Philosophy Society (SFI: in the three-year period 2001-04). He is corresponding member of the Academy of Agriculture, Science and Letters of Verona and of the Ligurian Academy of Science and Letters. At present, he is Professor of the History of Christianity. Research interests: Philosophy of the Renaissance; the origins of Philosophical Historiography between the Fifteen and the Sixteen Hundreds; Italian Philosophical Historiography in the Eighteen and Nineteen Hundreds; the highlights and personages of Spiritualism and Neothomism in the Eighteen Hundreds; the Church and Christian thinking in the Eighteen Hundreds; the History of the Roman Doctrinal Congregations of the Eighteen Hundreds: the condemnations of Rosmini and Gioberti; liberal Federalism and Catholicism in Italy in the Eighteen Hundreds; the fundamental elements of European identity from Medieval Christianity to the nationalism of the Eighteen Hundreds.
ABSTRACT: The Neothomist thinkers in Europe considered that, as a thinker and a scientist, Galileo deserved the condemnation of the Holy Office for his rash behaviour. They also regarded with suspicion the glorification on the part of numerous exponents of positive and materialistic thinking of his thought and of the experimental methods initiated by him. The Neothomists did not seek to condemn Galileo as a heretic or as a thinker who had divulged erroneous theories: they preferred to consider the results which certain of his opinions had created. All things considered, for them (Liberatore, Zigliara, Cornoldi) Galileo was a rather weak thinker and, as a scientist, an inexpert precursor. It is necessary to distinguish between the Neothomists’ reservations and the controversies brought about by some parts of the condemnation. The Galileo affair was touched upon by father Angelo Secchi, a Jesuit and scientist, well known not so much because he adhered to the Ptolemaic position, but because he was convinced that, in the first half of the eighteenth century, the Church had thought, in good faith, that the true interpretation of the universe was geocentric. Secchi was opposed to the Neothomist Ilemorfismo doctrine, but he did not accept Galileo’s position on the exegesis of the Scriptures either. The great astrophysicist’s position was a complex one. But the Galileo affair becomes a reason for controversy as far as Neothomism is concerned, on the part of theorists, followers of Antonio Rosmini, when some of his propositions are condemned by the Holy Office (the decree Post Obitum of 1887). In these circumstances, some hypotheses were put forward: should the decree which condemned Rosmini for a misunderstood sense of uniformity with Neothomism be reformed? The majority of the Catholic theorists were convinced that Rosmini was unjustly and possibly illegally condemned. They unearthed again the controversies of the 1633 condemnation and many could see some analogies. The discussion, which was decidedly animated in the Rosminian reviews, led many to maintain that the condemnation would soon have been cancelled. In reality though, it was a lengthy wait for both Galileo and for Rosmini. In the end, linking the two cases, is the widely diffused conviction amongst the Catholics of the Eighteen and early Nineteen Hundreds: that by taking those two stands, the Holy Office had chosen the wrong direction and had not assessed the value of the opinions of the two great theorists, positions which were profoundly Catholic and Orthodox. But why had it not understood? The presenter of this lecture upholds that the Roman Inquisition was not in a condition to understand, in either of the cases, the far-sightedness of the Christian theorists and that it remained anchored to positions of caution and of power.
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Luciano Malusa
Alberto Melloni
BIO: Professor of the History of Christianity at the Modena-Reggio Emilia University. Director of the Giovanni XXIII Foundation for Religious Sciences in Bologna, he was member of the international group which wrote La storia del Concilio Vaticano Secondo (The History of the Second Vatican Council), under the direction of Alberigo. He has recently published Papa Giovanni. Un Cristiano e il Suo Concilio (Pope John. A Christian and his Council), Einaudi 2009 and with G.Ruggeri the paper by Ch. Theobald, P. Huenermann, J. Komonchak Chi Ha Paura del Vaticano II?, Carocci 2009.
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Franco Motta
BIO: Franco Motta (Reggio Emilia, 15.07.1967) is a researcher in Modern History at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Turin. Author of Bellarmino. Una Teologia Politica della Controriforma, Brescia, Morcelliana, 2005, and editor of the critical edition of the Lettera a Cristina di Lorena by Galileo (Genoa, Marietti, 2000)
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Franco Motta
Isabelle Pantin
BIO: Is Professor of Literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, and she participates in the research program of the Observatoire de Paris (CNRS, SYRTE), in the section dedicated to the history of astronomy. She is also Senior Research Associate in the project: « Diagrams, Figures and the Transformation of Astronomy, 1450–1650 » (University of Cambridge, Department of History and Philosophy of Science). Her field is early modern scientific literature and culture. She has published on the history of the scientific book, on scientific illustration, on cosmological poetry, and on the beginnings of artistic theory in Seventeenth-century France. She has also prepared critical editions and translations of Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius and Kepler’s Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo.
ABSTRACT: The decree of 1616 exerted relatively little influence in France. There, the prohibition of Copernican books was first divulgated in Mersenne’s Quæstiones celeberrimæ in Genesim (1623), but was never officially promulgated. The Parliament of Paris, who firmly defended the Gallican freedoms, would not have permitted it. Similar Gallican resistance was opposed to the publication of the condemnation and abjuration of Galileo, but with much less efficiency. Michel Lerner has showed that France was the first European country, the Netherlands excepted, where the text of the sentence against Galileo circulated in print (“La réception de la condamnation de Galilée en France”, in Largo Campo di Filosofare, 2001). Already at the beginning of 1634 the Gazette of Théophraste Renaudot gave a condensed paraphrase of it. The effects on the philosophical community were profound. In France, Galileo’s work and figure had played a significant role in the constitution of what could be called (perhaps with some exaggeration) a federative idea of the “new philosophy”. The “Affair” produced occasions of misunderstanding and disagreement. Two questions were at stake: first the question of the choice of a cosmological system, and, secondly, the question of the legitimacy and of the full implication of the condemnation. Had Copernicanism really been declared heretical? and, in that case, was such a declaration valid? Mersenne, Peiresc, Gassendi, Boulliau, Descartes and others took different positions on these issues, more or less clearly. Besides, the impact of the ‘Affair’ went beyond the circles of philosophers and scientists. It was sometimes alluded to in libertine literature, with different implications. I shall present a tentative reflection on the implications of those differences and divisions.
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Mauro Pesce
BIO: Italian, born in Genoa, 1941, he is a Lecturer and Biblista. He has been Professor of the History of Christianity at Bologna University since 1987 where he is also President of the specialist degree course Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology. He studied in Bonn and Würzburg (1968/70) and in Jerusalem (1972-73). He was a Visiting Scholar at the Brown University (1986 and 1990) and at Yale University (1992). In 1979, he founded the Italian Association for the study of Judaism and in 1988, the Inter-departmental Centre of Studies on Judaism and Christianity (Interdepartmental Centre of Studies on Judaism and Christianity (CISEC)) at Bologna University. He is co-ordinator of the Doctorate in Religious Studies: Social Sciences and Historical Studies of Religions at Bologna University. Over the past few years, he has become known to the public for his books about Jesus: ‘Le Parole Dimenticate di Gesù’ (2004) and the book-interview ‘Inchiesta su Gesù’ (2006). He is co-director of the collection of comments on the New Testament conceived by Peter Arzt-Grabner: ‘Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament’, edited by Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen.
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PAGINA PERSONALE: Mauro Pesce
Paolo Ponzio
BIO: Paolo Ponzio, (Bari, 1966) is an associate professor at Bari University. He has been involved with numerous editions and translations of the works of Tommaso Campanella, amongst which L'Apologia per Galileo (1997), Il Compendio di Filosofia della Natura (1999) and the Monarchie du Messie (2002). He is author of various essays on the relationship between Philosophy, Theology and Science in the late Renaissance, and has published Copernicanesimo e Teologia. Scrittura e Natura in Campanella, Galilei e Foscarini (1998) and Tommaso Campanella. Filosofia della natura e teoria della scienza (2001).
ABSTRACT: In the philosophical and theological context of the early 17th century, on the morrow of the closure of the Council of Trent, which laid down the standards and regulations of the exegesis of the Scriptures, this presentation will seek to establish, on the one hand, which were the major theological tendencies within the Holy Roman Church, and on the other, the theological explanations of the hypothesis of a new cosmological configuration. In this perspective, the three authors under examination emerge as being emblematic from different points of view. Roberto Bellarmino, author of the famous Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei, in the years of teaching at Lovanio, although not developing his own cosmological model, was to embrace a series of positions; these were linked to astronomical problems and aimed at safeguarding some of the specific aspects of post-Tridentine Catholic theology. His design appears to be completely in line with the exegetic theology of the Society of Jesus which provided for a total use of the literal and historical interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. In contrast to the Jesuit, Tommaso Campanella was to propose, in his Apologia pro Galilaeo, the need to develop a certain freedom of philosophising – within which a certain freedom is also required in the theological disciplines – as well as a courageous defence of the “code” of nature which would release theology from sustaining univocally the Aristotelian-scholastic interpretation and which would lead to the outline of a reform of philosophy itself as well as of all the scientific disciplines.
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Paolo Prodi
BIO: Having graduated with a degree in Political Sciences from the Cattolica University in Milan and then specialised at Bonn University, he taught Modern History at the University of Trento (where he was rector from 1972 to 1978), Rome University and Bologna University. He is President of the Giunta Storica Nazionale (National Historical Commission) (ex ‘Giunta Centrale per gli Studi Storici’ – ‘Central Commission for Historical Studies’), member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and of the National Lincean Academy. In 1973, he founded, together with Hubert Jedin (once his tutor), the Istituto Storico Italo-Germanico di Trento (Italo-German Historical Institute of Trento). In 2007, he was awarded with the Alexander von Humboldt Prize. His publications include: Il sacramento del Potere. Il Giuramento Politico nella Storia Costituzionale dell'Occidente (1992), with G. Zarri, and L. Mezzadri, Angela Merici. Vita della Chiesa e Spiritualità nella Prima Metà del Cinquecento (1998), Una Storia della Giustizia. Dal Pluralismo dei Fori al Moderno Dualismo tra Coscienza e Diritto (2000), Il Sovrano Pontefice. Un Corpo e Due Anime: la Monarchia Papale nella Prima Età Moderna (2006) and Lessico per Un'Italia Civile (2008).
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Adriano Prosperi
BIO: He was born in Cerreto Guidi, near Florence, Italy, 1939. An Italian historian, he specialised and graduated from the Normale di Pisa college, where he was pupil of Delio Cantimori and Armando Saitta. After having taught Modern History at the Universities of Calabria, Bologna and Pisa, since 2002, he teaches Modern History at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. His main research interests concern the History of the Roman Inquisition, the history of the heretical movements in Italy in the Fifteen Hundreds, the history of cultures and attitudes between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. He is a member of the Lincean Academy. He has worked and continues to work with the Italian daily newspapers La Repubblica, il Corriere della Sera and Il Sole 24 Ore. His publications include: ‘Tribunali della coscienza. Inquisitori, Confessori, Missionari,’ Einaudi, Turin 1996; ‘America e Apocalisse e altri saggi’, Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, Pisa-Rome 1999; ‘Storia Moderna e Contemporanea, vol. I: Dalla Peste Nera alla Guerra dei Trent'anni’, Einaudi, Turin 2000; ‘L'eresia del Libro Grande. Storia di Giorgio Siculo e della sua Setta’, Feltrinelli, Milan 2000; ‘Il Concilio di Trento. Una introduzione storica’, Einaudi, Turin 2001; ‘L'Inquisizione Romana. Letture e Ricerche’, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, Rome 2002; ‘Dare l’anima. Storia di un Infanticidio’, Einaudi, Turin 2005; ‘Salvezza delle Anime Disciplina dei Corpi. Un seminario sulla storia del Battesimo’, edited by A.P., Pisa, Edizioni della Normale 2006; ‘Misericordie. Conversioni sotto il Patibolo tra Medioevo ed Età Moderna’, edited by A.P., Pisa , Edizioni della Scuola Normale 2007; ‘Giustizia Bendata. Percorsi storici di un’immagine’, Einaudi, Turin 2008
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Volker R. Remmert
BIO: Has been trained as a mathematician and a historian. He teaches history of mathematics and science at the University of Mainz. His main research interests are in the history of science, art and culture in early modern Europe and in the history of the mathematical sciences in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. Publications: An English translation of his book on frontispieces and the Scientific Revolution (Widmung, Welterklärung und Wissenschaftslegitimierung: Titelbilder und ihre Funktionen in der Wissenschaftlichen Revolution, Wiesbaden 2005) will be published in 2010. His recent articles include: Antiquity, Nobility, and Utility: Picturing the Early Modern Mathematical Sciences, in: Robson, Eleanor/Stedall, Jacqueline (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics, Oxford 2009, pp. 537-563; forthcoming: „Our mathematicians have learned and verified this“: Jesuits, biblical exegesis and the mathematical sciences in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, in: van der Meer, Jitse M./Mandelbrote, Scott H. (eds.): Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions, Leiden/Boston 2009.
ABSTRACT: Focus of my talk is on the historiographical fate of Galileo Galilei in Nazi Germany. He played an interesting role in Nazi propaganda and the legitimisation of Nazi political goals. In the „Third Reich“ the example of Galileo’s condemnation by the Catholic Church in 1633 became a symbol of its unjustified opposition to new „scientific“ results, namely Nazi racial theory. After Catholic opposition against Nazi racial theory had reached a peak point in 1937, the Galileo affair was turned into an instrument of Nazi propaganda against the Catholic Church.
DOWNLOAD: BIO/ABSTRACT
PAGINA PERSONALE: Volker R. Remmert
Pietro Redondi
BIO: He teaches History of Science at the New University of Milan - Bicocca. Founder of the review History and Technology, he has been assistant director of the Centre Koyré in Paris and heads the Nascita di una Comunità Poliscientifica research project. Books he has written or collaborated on include: L'accueil des Idées de Sadi Carnot; Science: the Renaissance of a History; Alexandre Koyré. De la Mystique à la Science; Galileo Eretico (translated into a dozen different languages and now in its fourth Italian edition), Ferdinandea; la Scienza, la Città, la Vita e Storie del Tempo, also translated.
ABSTRACT: Recent archive discoveries reveal a Galileo who opened himself to risk on different critical fronts, between his research into natural phenomena and Catholic orthodoxy: Copernicanism, as well as atomism. Such an abundance of religious tensions today creates the need for a more general evaluation of the relationship felt by Galileo between faith and science, not limited purely to the judiciary events of his condemnation. My paper proposes, therefore, to re-examine this relationship, setting it in the context of the principle of the unity of truth enunciated in Galileo’s Lettera a Cristina as being the key of every presumed contrast between reason and revelation in the natural field. And, secondly, I shall endeavour to ascertain if, and in which way Galileo’s science itself follows this unitary principle
DOWNLOAD: BIO/ABSTRACT
AUDIENCE    PAPERS    POSTER    SCHOLARSHIP

The Congress is open to all, and anyone - whatever the motive - is welcome to attend

Registration: fill out the form and pay the registration fee by credit card or by bank transfer.

Registrations will be accepted while places are still available

Registration Fee:

  • (for those registering before 15th May by 6:00 PM): 50 € for the whole congress, 20 € for a single day, 40 € for two days.
  • (for those registering after 15th May - 6:00 PM): 70 € for the whole congress, 30 € for a single day, 60 € for two days.

The Registration fee includes attendance at the sessions, congress material, certificate of attendance, coffee breaks and lunches. The fee does not include travelling and accommodation expenses.

After having compiled the registration form and select the payment condition you'll receive an email with the instruction to proceed to the payment of the fee.
After having paid the registration fee a confirmation will be sent via e-mail which will be valid for access to the Congress.

Until 20th May 2009, in case of cancellation, 50% of the fee already paid will be refunded.

The entrance to the Basilica of Santa Croce will be allowed until availability of seats. We will reserve seats for all participantS in the Congress “The Galileo Affair”
AUDIENCE    PAPERS    POSTER    SCHOLARSHIP

The Congress Organisation invites any scholars to send contributions destined for publication in the Acts of the Congress only.

The studies, which should centre on the Galileo affair and be of a historical-philological character, will be relevant to the scientific, philosophical and/or theological spheres. They may be presented in one of the three official languages of the Congress (Italian, English or French).

An abstract of the intended essay, together with the author’s curriculum, should be sent to the Secretary of the Congress (galileo2009@stensen.org), exclusively in electronic format, within 31st March 2009. The length of the abstract should be approximately 2,000 characters (including spaces).

The abstracts will be submitted to the Scientific Committee for judgement, the outcome of which will be irrevocable and will be communicated to the candidates by the Secretary within 15th May 2009. At the same time, the time limit for the presentation of the completed study will be communicated, as well as the editorial procedures to be respected.
The selected contributions will be published, subject to the availability of finances, by and at the expenses of the Congress Organisation.
AUDIENCE    PAPERS    POSTERS    SCHOLARSHIP

The Congress Organisation invites contributions of posters to be affixed only in the areas in which the Congress is held.
The posters, which should centre on the Galileo Affair and have a historical-philological character, will be relevant to the scientific, philosophical and/or theological spheres. The posters may be presented in one of the three official languages of the Congress (Italian, English or French).

An abstract of the intended poster, together with the curriculum of the author, should be sent to the Secretary of the Congress (galileo2009@stensen.org), exclusively in electronic format, before 15th March 2009. The length of the abstract should be approximately 2,000 characters (including spaces)

The abstracts will be submitted to the Scientific Committee for judgement, the outcome of which will be irrevocable and will be communicated to the candidates by the Secretary within 31st March 2009.

The selected candidates’ poster must be finished within 30th April 2009 and sent in pdf format, with relative print settings imposed and saved. They should be in colour, vertically oriented, with the text layout organised in paragraphs and columns, and be of the following dimensions 59,4 x 82cm (A1) or 29,7 x 42cm (A3). The posters should not, in total, exceed the dimensions of two panels measuring 59,4 x 82cm (A1).
AUDIENCE    PAPERS    POSTERS    SCHOLARSHIP
RESEARCH GRANT APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR ATTENDANCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS “THE GALILEO AFFAIR – A HISTORICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL REEXAMINATION” (Florence, 26th – 30th May 2009)

The Congress Organisers, in collaboration with the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) (‘National Research Council’) is providing funding for a selected number of young researchers (a research grant) with the aim of encouraging and supporting their attendance of the International Congress.
  • Number and Value of the Research Grants

    • no. 2 grants of 600 euro (reserved for scholars resident outside the European Union or outside any of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland)

    no. 18 grants of 300 euro (reserved for scholars resident in one of the countries of the European Union or in any of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland)

    The above value of the grant is to be considered as gross of any tax deduction. For the successful applicants resident for tax purposes in Italy, a tax deduction of 20% will be applied. Therefore, the corresponding net amount will be equal to 240 €. For the successful applicants resident for tax purposes outside Italy, a tax deduction of 30% will be applied. Therefore, the corresponding net amount will be equal to 210 € (for the successful applicants resident in one of the European Union countries or in any of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland) or equal to 420 € (for the successful applicants resident outside the European Union or outside any of the above mentioned countries).

    In addition to payment of the grant, for successful applicants the funding will also cover the Congress registration fee which also includes coffee breaks as well as lunches on the days 27th, 28th and 29th May 2009. The organisation of travel, board and lodging is the responsibility of the grant holders themselves who may, however, contact the Segreteria del Convegno (Congress Organisational Staff) for information concerning hotels with advantageous tariff arrangements for obtaining special terms and further discounts. [continue]
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LOCATIONS    HOTEL ACCOMODATION   
BASILICA DI SANTA CROCE   Piazza Santa Croce - Firenze
BASILICA DI SANTA CROCE
The Basilica of Santa Croce, founded in 1294, is amongst the oldest and most magnificent Franciscan buildings. The complex includes two cloisters, the Noviciate, the Capitular Hall the Refectory (today home to the museum which holds renowned works coming from the church and the cloisters). Its interiors preserve an immense artistic heritage of frescoes, polyptychs, splendid fourteenth century stained glass windows, architectural structures from the Renaissance, fifteenth century sculptures and works of the greatest Florentine masters. Inside the Basilica, there are the tombs and the burial memorials of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, Alfieri, Foscolo and of other important personages of Italian culture. In particular, it houses Galileo’s tomb – initially kept by the Franciscans in one of the cloisters – only in 1737 was it moved to the interior of the Basilica. MORE INFORMATION - MAP
PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI   Piazza Adua, 1 - Firenze
PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI
The Palazzo dei Congressi, housed within the nineteenth century Villa Vittoria built by the Strozzi family, is situated a few steps away from the Santa Maria Novella main railway station and from the historical centre of the city. The premises also include – apart from the splendid Auditorium, refurbished in 2004, with seating capacity of up to 1.000 persons - a large area of parkland, an amphitheatre and a lemon house.
MAP
VILLA IL GIOELLO   Via Pian dei Giullari, 42 - Arcetri (Fi)
VILLA IL GIOELLO
The villa, the origins of which appear to date back to the 14th Century, the name indicating the wonderful position of the property (‘il gioiello’ = ‘the jewel’), was Galileo Galilei’s residence from 1631. The façade, in fact, today still preserves in his honour a bust dating back to 1843 and two memorial tablets dating from 1788 and 1942. Following his condemnation by the Holy Office in 1633, after a period passed in Siena to escape from the plague in Florence, the Congregation of the Holy Office allowed the scientist to return to “il Gioiello”. Here, Galileo ended his days in 1642, assisted by his son Vincenzo, by Evangelista Torricelli and by Vincenzo Viviani.
MORE INFORMATION - MAP
LOCATIONS    HOTEL ACCOMODATION   






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Information about Convention:
Tel: (+39) 055 576551 (Giuseppe Gulizia - Katia Rossi)
E-mail: galileo2009@stensen.org
Press Office:
Antonio Pirozzi, Jacopo Storni
E-mail: ufficio.stampa@stensen.org

Journalists interested in attending the International Congress of Studies "The Galileo Affair" should ask accreditation sending an e-mail to the following address: ufficio.stampa@stensen.org
The e-mail should specify the following:

NAME AND LAST/FAMILY NAME
TELEPHONE
E-MAIL
MEDIA ORGANISATION o FREE LANCE

Once confirmed, you may collect your accreditation during the days of the Congress from our Press Office at Palazzo Congressi.

In the area below, it is possible to download the event’s press releases and images.

[13-05-2009] Conferenza Stampa - Santa Croce - 13/05 (Napolitano all'inaugurazione in Santa Croce.doc) (Rileggere il Caso Galileo oggi.doc) (L'evento finale del convegno a Casa Galilei.doc) (Quando la musica celebra il cosmo.doc)
[13-05-2009] Conferenza Stampa 2 - Santa Croce - 13/05 (Biografilm Festival.doc) (Il Cnr con Galileo e con i giovani ricercatori.doc)
[21-04-2009] Il Cnr con Galileo e con i giovani ricercatori (Il Cnr con Galileo e con i giovani ricercatori.doc)
[30-03-2009] Galileo, Napolitano at the International Congress in Florence (Galileo, Napolitano at the International Congress in Florence.doc)
[17-03-2009] Comunicato 17 Marzo (Napolitano a Firenze per Caso Galileo.doc)
[29-01-2009] Immagini (immagini.zip)



Ufficio Stampa Stensen
Antonio Pirozzi - 339/5238132
Jacopo Storni - 335/7163225
ufficio.stampa@stensen.org
The Conclusion of the Congress   [03-06-2009]
The International Congress has concluded. It was a big success, and produced excellent scientific results, as the speakers and audience have underlined. We'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to our initiative. In the next few days, there will be other materials published on the website
Ingresso Inaugurazione 26 maggio   [22-05-2009]
ATTENZIONE: a differenza da quanto comunicato precedentemente, l'accesso alla Basilica di Santa Croce per l'inaugurazione del Convegno (26 maggio) sarà limitato agli iscritti al Convegno e agli inviti. E' tuttavia possibile fare richiesta d'accesso inviando un'e-mail a inviti@stensen.org indicando nome e cognome e professione.
Deferring dead lines Research Grant Application Procedure   [05-05-2009]
The deadline for sending applications for research grants has been deferred to 15th May 2009.
Those interested may send their application to: galileo2009@stensen.org
Deferment of Deadline for sending Abstracts (posters and essays)   [25-03-2009]
The deadline for sending contributions for display (posters) or for publication (essays) has been deferred to 15th April 2009.
Those interested may send their Abstracts and CVs to: galileo2009@stensen.org
Napolitano present at the Inauguration   [17-03-2009]
The presence of the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, has been confirmed at the inauguration of the Congress “The Galileo Affair. A Historical, Philosophical and Theological Re-examination” scheduled in Florence on Tuesday 26th May in the Basilica of Santa Croce (mausoleum of the greatest Italians, the location of Galileo’s tomb). Here, there will also be the presentation of the ‘Lectiones magistrales’ by Nicola Cabibbo (President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences) and Paolo Rossi (Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at Florence University). In addition to the President of the Republic, numerous other authorities from the Italian institutional sphere will be present.
The John Templeton Foundation in the Organising Committee    [17-03-2009]
The participation of the John Templeton Foundation has been confirmed as part of the Organising Committee of the International Congress “The Galileo Affair. A Historical, Philosophical and Theological Re-examination”. The Foundation, established in 1987 with its headquarters at West Conshohocken in Pennsylvania, has always supported projects concerning the Natural and the Behavioural Sciences, particularly with regard to the major Philosophical and Theological issues.
Press Conference   [28-01-2009]
Tomorrow, Thursday 29th January at 11.30 am, in the press room at the Holy See in Via della Conciliazione 54, Rome, a press conference will be held for the presentation of the International Congress “The Galileo Affair. A Historical, Philosophical and Theological Re-examination".
This event is featured on the occasion of the presentation of the Holy See’s and related institutions’ initiatives for the Year of Astronomy.
The press conference will see interventions from: the Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, P. José G. Funes SJ, Jesuit Director of the Specola Vaticana observatory, Professor Nicola Cabibbo, President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Professor Paolo Rossi of The Lincean Academy.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Fondazione Monte dei Paschi CNR Opera Santa Croce Finmeccanica Regione Toscana Regione Toscana Provincia Firenze Comitato Nazionale Celebrazioni Galileiane 2009-2010 Comune Firenze Università degli Studi di Firenze John Templaton Foundation
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