Revolution in Science How Galileo and Darwin Changed Our World

This is the compelling story of the two biggest events in the evolution of ideas: the revolutions of Galileo and Darwin. Mark Brake captures the adventure and excitement of these two scientists in this is a timely examination of the ways in which faith an

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Revolution in Science H ow G a l il eo a nd Da rw i n Ch a n ged Our Wo r l d

Mark L. Brake

REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE

Copyright © Mark L. Brake, 2009.

All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States – a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-20268-9 ISBN 978-0-230-10210-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-10210-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Macmillan Publishing Solutions. First edition: December 2009

For Been and Rosi, who did not compel me to write this dedication

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

viii

Introduction

1

Part I

5

Wisdom of the Ancients

1

Greek Sky: The World Before the Telescope

2

Heaven and Earth

29

3

The Darkness Rising

45

Part II

The Gathering Storm

7

69

4

Medieval Sky

71

5

The Great Chain of Being

89

Part III The Revolutions: The Weapons of Discovery

103

6

The Telescope and Galileo

105

7

Evolution and Darwin

131

Part IV

The Aftermath: Worlds Turned Upside Down

145

8

The “Galileo” Aftermath

147

9

The “Darwin” Aftermath

177

Part V 10

The Prestige

The Kudos

191 193

Notes

207

Index

217

Figures

1.1 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6

4.1 5.1 8.1

The classical geocentric system of the Pythagoreans Schema 1: Central Fire cosmology, showing the Earth and Sun at noon Schema 2: Central Fire cosmology, showing the Earth and Sun at midnight Schema 3: The classical geocentric system (with soaring Greek gods!) Schema 4: The classical heliocentric system Schema 5: The system of Heraclides Aristotle’s geocentric universe, complete with the four elements, celestial spheres and the Primum Mobile, the ninth sphere driven by divinity Schema 6: The Epicycle System of Ptolemy Der Doktor Schnabel von Rom, Doctor Beak of Rome, an engraving by Paul Fürst, 1656 The Tychonic system

17 48 49 52 53 55

65 80 97 158

Table

Greek chart: Philosophy and science in the ancient Greek world

27

Introduction

T

his is a tale of two revolutions. It is a story of history and adventure, science and invention, sex and absurdity, slavery and lunacy, murder and alchemy. A chronicle that sweeps continents and centuries, upending kings and cosmologies, religious dogma and the dark age of faith. Bringing remarkable ages to vivid life, the narrative traces momentous events that twice turned the world upside down. A medieval revolution that shifted the Throne of God to th