Thursday, June 29
Thursday, July 6
Thursday, August 31
Thursday, September 7
event begins at 9:30 p.m. (in Italian)
The "World-Machine" of Dante Alighieri according to Galileo Galilei
“If it has been a difficult and admirable task for man, through long vigils and perilous peregrinations, to have measured and determined the locations and the breadth of the land and the seas, as well as those of the stars, from the nearest to the most remote, with all of their movements, how much more marvellous then must we regard the investigation and description of the location, form and magnitude of the Inferno. And inasmuch as the Divine Poet intended to disseminate the precise measurements under the sails of the strange verses, shall it be the task of the highest maestro Galileo Galilei to render such activity a negotiation of easy comprehension to whomever should wish it.” - Galileo Galilei
On the occasion of the Summer 2006 special evening openings, the Museum of the History of Science will be offering a new event called "The 'World-Machine' of Dante Alighieri according to Galileo Galilei". In 1588 Galileo Galilei gave two lectures at the Accademia Fiorentina on the "Form, location and size of Dante's Inferno". The Florentine poet, whose geocentrical conception of the universe was part of the culture of his time, already understood, in the 1300s, the importance of observing the Earth in order to better understand the Heavens. Like the audience of the Accademia Fiorentina, visitors to the Museo di Storia della Scienza of Florence will be offered the opportunity to listen as the "highest maestro" Galileo, played by an actor in period costume, explains the "unexpected" connections between Dante and science.
The event will take place in Italian.
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