Theoretical physics exists because Dante’s Inferno doesn’t
Did Galileo get his ideas from disproving the measurements of Dante’s Inferno?
Gustave Dore’s illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In 1588, when Galileo was a 24-year-old unknown, a medical school dropout, he was invited to deliver a couple of lectures on Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” Many in Galileo’s audience would have been shocked, even dismayed, to see this young upstart take the stage and start poking holes in what they believed about the poet’s meticulously constructed fantasy world.
Ever since its 1314 publication, scholars had toiled to map the physical features of Dante’s Inferno — the blasted valleys and caverns, the roiling rivers of fire. What Galileo said, put simply, is that many commonly accepted dimensions did not stand up to mathematical scrutiny. Using complex geometrical analysis, he attacked a leading scholar’s version of the Inferno’s structure, pointing out that his description of the infernal architecture — such as the massive cylinders descending to the center of the Earth — would, in real life, collapse under their own weight. . .
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 17th, 2011 at 16:52
always thought galileo was a rock star..and he still rocks..haha..thanks ms z for the post..i hardly read science now..and i’m growing stupid more and more..i hope it’s not because i’m reading about decadence that my brain seems to be following suit..
January 17th, 2011 at 18:38
What devilish fun prints!