The "Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina" is an essay written in 1615 by Galileo Galilei. The intention of this letter was to accommodate Copernicanism with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. Galileo tried to use the ideas of Church Fathers and Doctors to show that any condemnation of Copernicanism would be inappropriate.
Christina of Lorraine was a French noblewoman of the House of Lorraine who became a Grand Duchess of Tuscany by marriage. She served as Regent of Tuscany jointly with her daughter-in-law during the minority of her grandson from 1621 to 1628.
Vincenzo Galilei was an Italian lutenist, composer, and music theorist. His children included the astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei and the lute virtuoso and composer Michelagnolo Galilei. Vincenzo was a figure in the musical life of the late Renaissance and contributed significantly to the musical revolution which demarcates the beginning of the Baroque era.
Life of Galileo, also known as Galileo, is a play by the 20th century German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and collaborator Margarete Steffin with incidental music by Hanns Eisler. The play was written in 1938 and received its first theatrical production at the Zurich Schauspielhaus, opening on the 9th of September 1943. This production was directed by Leonard Steckel, with set-design by Teo Otto. The cast included Steckel himself, Karl Paryla and Wolfgang Langhoff.
Sister Maria Celeste was an Italian nun. She was the daughter of the scientist Galileo Galilei and Marina Gamba.
Marina Gamba of Venice was the mother of Galileo Galilei's illegitimate children. She was born around 1570 in Venice.
Ferdinando II de' Medici was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. He was remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture and science, actively participating in the Accademia del Cimento, the first scientific society in Italy, formed by his younger brother, Leopoldo de' Medici. His 49-year rule was punctuated by the beginning of Tuscany's long economic decline, which was further exacerbated by his successor, Cosimo III de' Medici. He married Vittoria della Rovere, a first cousin, with whom he had two children who reached adulthood: the aforementioned Cosimo III, and Francesco Maria de' Medici, Duke of Rovere and Montefeltro, a cardinal.
Giovanni Battista Doni was an Italian musicologist and humanist who made an extensive study of ancient music. He is known, among other works, for having renamed the note "Ut" to "Do" in solfège.
The Galileo affair began around 1610 and culminated with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was prosecuted for his support of heliocentrism, the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the centre of the universe.
Francesco Barberini was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. The nephew of Pope Urban VIII, he benefited immensely from the nepotism practiced by his uncle. He was given various roles within the Vatican administration but his personal cultural interests, particularly in literature and the arts, meant that he became a highly significant patron. His secretary was the antiquarian Cassiano dal Pozzo who was also a discerning patron of the arts. Francesco was the elder brother of Cardinal Antonio Barberini and Taddeo Barberini who became Prince of Palestrina.
The Assayer is a book by Galileo Galilei, published in Rome in October 1623. It is generally considered to be one of the pioneering works of the scientific method, first broaching the idea that the book of nature is to be read with mathematical tools rather than those of scholastic philosophy, as generally held at the time.
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love is a book by Dava Sobel published in 1999. It is based on the surviving letters of Galileo Galilei's daughter, the nun Suor Maria Celeste, and explores the relationship between Galileo and his daughter. It was nominated for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.
Villa il Gioiello is a villa in Florence, central Italy, famous for being one of the residences of Galileo Galilei, which he lived in from 1631 until his death in 1642. It is also known as Villa Galileo.
Vincenzo Maculani was an Italian Catholic Cardinal, inquisitor and military architect. He was known as a severe man, harsh and without compassion, who preferred the black cappa of his order to the brighter red he was later entitled to wear as a cardinal.
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei, commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei or simply Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. He was born in the city of Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence. Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics, the scientific method, and modern science.
Vincenzo or Vincenzio Gamba (1606–1649), later Vincenzo Galilei (1619), was the illegitimate son of Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) and his mistress Marina Gamba (1570–1612). Vincenzo was legitimated to his father in 1619. Like his grandfather Vincenzo Galilei, the younger Vincenzo became a lutenist.
Galileo is a 1968 Italian–Bulgarian biographical drama film directed by Liliana Cavani. It depicts the life of Galileo Galilei and particularly his conflicts with the Catholic Church over his scientific theories.
Tommaso Rinuccini was an Italian noble, diplomat and friend of Galileo Galilei.
Anna Maria Vaiani was an Italian engraver, who was most known for her botanical engravings and designs.
The Trials of Galileo is an opera-oratorio, copyrighted in 1967, with libretto in English by Joe Darion and music by Ezra Laderman. Commissioned by Pamela Illott, Executive Producer of Cultural Programming of the CBS Television Network, and first performed on that network in May, 1967 under the title The Trials of Galileo. It was modified for staged performance under the new title, Galileo Galilei, performed by the Tri-Cities Opera in cooperation with the State University of New York at Binghamton, on February 3, 1979.
