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Galilæana. Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Science

Focus

Vol. 20 No. 2 (2023)

Galileo, Simon Marius and Dutch nationalism

DOI
https://doi.org/10.57617/gal-12
Submitted
1 June 2023
Published
2023-11-10

Abstract

In 1898 the Dutch Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen issued a prize question asking for an evaluation of Galileo’s charge of plagiarism laid by Galileo against Simon Marius concerning the discovery of the satellites of Jupiter. The only submission defended Galileo, and the editor of the Society’s journal, Johannes Bosscha (1831-1911), then took it on himself to defend Marius and attack Galileo, whom he saw as a usurper of the credit rightfully belonging to the Dutch engineer and scientist Simon Stevin (1548-1620). Bosscha’s extreme nationalistic arguments are analyzed in this paper.

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