MGMT 1050 Lecture 6: CH 6 - Beyond the Human Eye
20 Jul 2016
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On a sticky hot day in florence, it"s a relief to enter the air-conditioned museum for the history of science down by the river arno. Our mission is to track down the very beginning of modern astronomy: two telescopes made by the great galileo. Up the stairs, past brass astrolabes, into the first of the galileo rooms. And amidst the gleaming metal, polished wood and shining glass, there"s something distinctly organic. Look more closely - and it"s a finger. Distinctly, a mummified human finger, pointing upwards from a glass dish that holds it reverentially, like the relic of a saint. According to the caption, this is the finger of galileo himself. To be precise, it"s the middle finger of his right hand. It"s tempting to think that he"s making a rather rude gesture towards the. Church fathers who censored his words, stifled his thoughts and imprisoned him. Despite what people often say, galileo didn"t actually invent the telescope.
