Museo Galileo
italiano
Virtual Museum
Multimedia
Galileo's disciples
Video   Text

 

Galileo's first direct pupil was the Benedictine monk Benedetto Castelli, author of innovative research on hydraulics and a keen student of astronomy and physics. Castelli strongly supported Galileo's campaign for the acceptance of Copernicanism. The assistance given by the Olivetan friar Vincenzo Renieri to Galileo's research was particularly significant: he compiled tables for the mean motions of Jupiter's moons. Another of Galileo's students, the Jesuat Bonaventura Cavalieri, was renowned for his studies on the geometry of indivisibles. Niccolò Aggiunti and Mario Guiducci helped Galileo in his studies of motion. Guiducci also backed Galileo in his dispute with the Jesuit Orazio Grassi on the nature of comets. The final generation of students worked closely with Galileo after his condemnation in 1633. They include Clemente Settimi, a Scolopian friar, and the precocious Vincenzo Viviani, who assisted the nearly-blind Galileo from 1639 onward. After Galileo's death, Viviani sought to have his books printed, to obtain the revocation of his condemnation, and to arrange the edification of a proper tomb for his remains. Evangelista Torricelli moved to Florence to assist the master a few months before his death. He later became Galileo's successor as Mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, carrying on Galileo's research in physics and geometry.

Objects
Application of the pendulum to the clock

Application of the pendulum to the clock

Inv. 2433
Author unknown, 19th cent. (copy)

Armed lodestone

Armed lodestone

Inv. 2431
Maker unknown, ca. 1608

Armed lodestones

Armed lodestones

Inv. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Maker unknown, first decade 17th cent.

Galileo and Viviani

Galileo and Viviani

Loan INAF-Arcetri
Tito Lessi, 1892

Large armed lodestone

Large armed lodestone

Inv. 542
Maker unknown, first decade 17th cent.

Middle finger of Galileo's right hand

Middle finger of Galileo's right hand

Inv. 2432
Author unknown, Stand, case, and inscription: ca. 1737

Model of the application of the pendulum to the clock

Model of the application of the pendulum to the clock

Inv. 2085
Eustachio Porcellotti, Florence, 1877

Thermoscope

Thermoscope

Inv. 2444
Maker unknown, 19th cent. (replica)