Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Armed lodestones
    • Setting:
      Room VII
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Date:
      first decade 17th cent.
    • Materials:
      lodestone, iron, brass, silver
    • Dimensions:
      59x65x25 mm; 34x36x29 mm; 73x45x74 mm; 46x16x60 mm; 58x32x55 mm; 40x60x60 mm
    • Inventory:
      6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
    • Armed lodestones (Inv. 6-11)
    • Armed lodestones (Inv. 6-11)

Set of armed lodestones used by Galileo for his studies on magnets, which intensified in 1600-1609. In particular, Galileo discussed magnets with Paolo Sarpi and Giovanfrancesco Sagredo, between Padua and Venice, during that decade. Their exchanges frequently refer to William Gilbert's De Magnete (London, 1600).