Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Galilæana. Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Science

Essays

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2025)

Navigating censorship: Galileo and Diodati’s plan for the publication of the Two New Sciences

DOI
https://doi.org/10.57617/gal-63
Submitted
12 September 2024
Published
2025-04-29

Abstract

This article explores the background of the editorial operation that led to the publication of Galileo Galilei’s Two New Sciences in 1638. As it was for the Latin editions of the Dialogue (1635) and the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine (1636), Galileo actively participated in the printing operations of his final work, even though in the introductory texts he claimed to have no involvement whatsoever. The analysis of three manuscript sheets preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze highlights not only Galileo’s active role in the editorial process but also his contribution to devising a plan to appear completely uninvolved in that publication. In the National Edition of Galileo’s works by Antonio Favaro, it is noted that these three sheets are written in the same handwriting, without identifying the author. This article intends to show that the author of these manuscripts is Elia Diodati. The comparison of the handwriting on these sheets with other autograph letters by Diodati, alongside the reconstruction of the role played by the Parisian jurist in the editorial operation, supports this hypothesis.

References

  1. Biener, Zvi. “Galileo’s First New Science: The Science of Matter”. Perspectives on science 12, 3 (2004), 262-287.
  2. Bucciarelli, Lucia. “Back to Battle: The Latin Edition of the Dialogue and of the Letter to Christina (1635-1636)”. Galilæana 16 (2019), 77-104.
  3. Camerota, Michele. Galileo Galilei e la cultura scientifica nell’età della controriforma. Roma: Salerno Editrice, 2004.
  4. Drake, Stillman. Galileo at Work. New York: Dover publications, 1995.
  5. Favaro, Antonio. Amici e corrispondenti di Galileo. Firenze: Salimbeni, 1983, 3 vol.
  6. Findlen, Paula, Hanna Marcus. “Deciphering Galileo: Communication and Secrecy before and after the Trial”. Renaissance quarterly 72, 3 (2019), 953-995. https://doi.org/10.1017/rqx.2019.253
  7. Galilei, Galileo. Two new sciences: including centers of gravity & force of percussion. Trans. S. Drake. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1974.
  8. Galluzzi, Paolo. Tra atomi e indivisibili. La materia ambigua di Galileo. Firenze: Olschki, 2011.
  9. Garcia, Stephen. Élie Diodati et Galilée. Naissance d’un réseau scientifique dans l’Europe du XVIIe siècle. Firenze: Olschki, 2004.
  10. Hall, Crystal. Galileo’s reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
  11. Van Helden, Albert. “Longitude and the Satellites of Jupiter”. In The Quest for Longitude, edited by William J. H. Andrewes, 85-100. Cambridge MA: Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 1996.
  12. Raphael, Renée J. “Printing Galileo’s Discorsi: A Collaborative Affair”. Annals of Science 69, 4 (2012), 483-513. https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2011.644192
  13. Stefani, Marta. “Un telescopio a due occhi? Favaro, Venturi e il celatone di Galileo”. Galilæana 10 (2013), 169-185.
  14. Torrini, Maurizio. “Galileo e la Repubblica degli scienziati”. In Largo campo di filosofare: Eurosymposium Galileo 2001, edited by José Montesinos, Carlos Solís, 788-789. La Orotava: Fundación Canaria Orotava de Historia de la Ciencia, 2001.