Introduction

Galileo’s Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico e copernicano (1632) is a surprising book. The two astronomical systems referred to in the title are based on complex geometrical models. In Galileo’s book, the mathematics is limited to simple diagrams and elementary geometry. Also, unusual for a book claiming to be about celestial matters, it deals at length with ideas about how bodies move on earth, ideas that had no place in the systems of Copernicus or Ptolemy.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-024-00970-0