Personal Essays
Dialogue of Galileo Galilei, Lyncean Special Mathematician of the University of Pisa And Philosopher and Chief Mathematician of the Most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Where, in the meetings of four days, there is discussion concerning the two Chief Systems of the World, Ptolemaic and Copernican, Propounding inconclusively the philosophical and physical reasons as much for one side as for the other.
Our eyes deceive us. The stars and sun and moon and planets move from east to west while we stay still. We are at the centre of existence, the pinnacle of creation. How can the master, Aristotle, be wrong? It would be absurd to contemplate our very own Earth moving around another body. We would fly right off this orb at the speeds needed to convey us in our journey. If only I could show you the path the celestial bodies trace across the dome of heaven. If only you could see the lines of movement the stars make in their nightly travels. One day some bright mind in the future will invent a device to demonstrate the truth of these statements.