I guess the biggest surprise from first reading of Galileo’s Two New Sciences (mechanics and strength of materials) during my early years overseas was how little (if any) objection it would receive in modern times, even from the more extreme fringes. His other books are not opposed much either. So I hope it means that some progress has been made since his time.

It is hard to imagine that so much fuss would be made over such small things, and Galileo would be forced by his friend to swear a lie, and live under house to save his life.

At first the Two New Sciences was printed secretly in a protestant country by a publishing company that is still in business. So it looks like they made a lot of right choices over the years.

Then we remember that Newton’s work was not printed in English during his life time, and Copernicus issued his work with an apology written in the front.

I wonder how the future centuries will look back at the unfinished debates of our times.

In the 20th century we received the big bang theory of creation from a Catholic priest, Georges Lemaître, and it was tested with scientific methods instead of church authority. So it does look like progress.

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Galileo started one of the greatest scientific debates of all times that is still being argued by the best scientific minds. It doesn’t get a lot of attention in public.

Before Galileo the physical world was described in geometrical terms with few exceptions. People tried to say what they saw with little regard to what caused it to be that way.

Copernicus didn’t challenge the geometrical methods but Galileo did.

The problem with mathematics of that time was it was built upon a geometry that contained assumptions that couldn’t be proven logically.

Galileo defined a cause of the actions he wrote about. That’s what nearly got him killed. It’s still a bit dangerous.

Between the time of Galileo and Einstein everything was believed to have a cause, even if people didn’t know what the cause was. Then Einstein started a revolution.

General relativity describes the physical world in terms of a geometry that is altered by physical causes that can be identified.

The early pioneers of quantum mechanics went further and removed the identifiable causes for very small actions, even for cases when many small actions add up to a big result that has an identifiable cause. The small actions were given random variables inside a frame work an orderly world. Then the fight began.

Einstein argued with Bohr and never resolved the issue. Einstein argued for hidden causes, but that became a very unpopular opinion. A lot of scientists thought the theories should be made from things that can be measured. It makes sense.

The opinion of Bohr prevailed, because predictions made from quantum mechanics has passed a great many physical tests, and failed none. Even then the quantum mechanics was not complete, because there were physical things like gravity that it couldn’t predict.

Galileo’s idea of there being causes for actions fell out of favor for small things, but continued to be accepted for large actions that are collections of small things. It sounds irrational.

Eventually quantum mechanics added string theory, because string theory does appear to predict gravity.

Now for the humor.

String theory doesn’t make sense unless it has extra dimensions, most of them rolled up in tiny packages, or traveling at light speed, and hidden from view, considerably more dimensions than the 4 of space and time that Einstein used. There are choices between 10 dimensions for special cases or 26 dimensions for general cases.

It’s very hard to think in 26 dimensions.

In recent times the argument of Galileo and Einstein was taken up by Roger Penrose, while Stephen Hawking played the part of Bohr in their book “The Nature Of Space And Time.”

The basic argument is that if there are hidden dimensions, then there might be hidden variables in them.

Eventually there is a hope of resolving the issue when we learn how to travel near light speed. Then the theories say that hidden dimensions will open up and become visible to us. Its like the Lorentz contraction in reverse.

Galileo might get the last laugh.

In reading the source documents I came to a somewhat different opinion about Galileo than is often given in reference works.

Galileo differed from Copernicus in three major ways.

Copernicus avoided conflicts as often as possible and asked advice from everyone, building a consensus, before issuing his book On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. He clearly stated at the beginning of the book that his intent was to provide a more accurate calendar with mathematical models, that were not intended to describe a physical system. Then he issued an apology for not doing a better job.

Copernicus continued the long tradition with geometrical presentation, in the passive voice. His work was well received during his life time if not universally accepted.

Galileo on the other hand taught the Copernican system as a proven fact of a physical system, with a ponder motive cause in the active voice. He seldom asked for advice or accepted it when offered. The Copernican system came to him early in his teaching career, and he took every occasion to contend with the senior professors who disapproved of the new system after a life time teaching about Ptolemy.

With considerable skill Galileo converted disapproval into outrage and hostile opposition. It was the academic opposition that first brought Galileo unto trouble with the church.

The inquisition found him not guilty, but the Copernican system was banned, conditionally, and temporarily until it could be edited to contain the dispute that Galileo created. Later when Galileo’s work was denounced, the ban was permanent and absolute.

Eventually Galileo was charged with violating a commission for impartiality in the comparison of the two systems in his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, a charge that was true.

His enemies in the academic community did not bring him into the inquisition the second time, they were more inclined to lynch him. Galileo’s friends brought him into the inquisition, negotiated a plea bargain, and got him off very lightly on a sentence that appeared to be extremely harsh, but in fact was nothing more than early retirement, surrounded by friends, with a book deal in a foreign country to support him in old age.

So the church has issued an apology to Galileo. It looks like another plea bargain.

I really wonder how Galileo would be received today by the academic community, if he came to teach in the local university.

Now the academic community is about to receive another revolution of the Copernican type, started by cautious old scholars. The next steps will be taken by a group of young Galileos who come to teach.