Galileo: Unveiling the Face of the Moon

Author: Jean-Pierre Maury
Translator: Jin Zhiping / Country: France
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-07-01
Features: Galileo expressed his belief in human reason. Sagredo (using a telescope to observe, whispering): The edge of the crescent moon is completely irregular, like jagged teeth. In the dark part, near the bright edge, there are points of light appearing one by one. The light spreads out from these points, merging into the large bright area. Galileo: How do you explain these points of light? Sagredo: They cannot be explained. Galileo: Of course, they can. These are mountains. Sagredo: On a planet? Galileo: They are huge mountains. When night covers the surrounding slopes, the rising sun dyes the mountain peaks golden. What you see is sunlight flowing down from the high peaks to the deep valleys. Sagredo: But this contradicts what astronomy has said for 2,000 years. Galileo: Exactly. What you see, besides me, no one has ever seen before. You are the second person to see it. Sagredo: But the moon cannot have high mountains and deep valleys like the Earth, and the Earth cannot be a planet. Galileo: The moon can be like the Earth with high mountains and deep valleys, and the Earth can be a planet, an ordinary celestial body among the stars. Look again, is the dark part of the moon completely dark? Sagredo: No. Now I notice that there is a silvery-gray glow on it. Galileo: Where does this light come from? Sagredo: ? (speechless) Galileo: It comes from the Earth. Sagredo: Absurd. The Earth has mountains, forests, and rivers. How can such a cold object emit light? Galileo: Just like the moon. Both planets are illuminated by the sun, so they can shine by reflection. We see the moon, and the moon sees us. From its perspective, the Earth sometimes appears as a crescent, sometimes half-round, sometimes full-round, and sometimes completely invisible. Sagredo: So, the moon and the Earth are no different? Galileo: Not outwardly. Sagredo: Less than 10 years ago, a man was burned to death in Rome. His name was Bruno, and he held this view. Galileo: That's right, we know about it; but we have also seen this with our own eyes. Sagredo, put your eye close to the telescope, and you will find that the heavens and the Earth are no different. Today is January 10, 1610, and humanity has written in their diaries: Heaven has disappeared. Sagredo: It's terrible. Galileo: I have discovered something else. Perhaps even more astonishing. Rector: Forget it. I've heard enough. You reward me in this way, making me the laughingstock of the entire city. People will always remember how I, the university rector, got involved in this meaningless telescope controversy. You laugh, but your salary has increased by 500 lire. But I must tell you, listen, what a decent person would say: This world is disgusting! (He leaves, slamming the door behind him) Galileo: He is quite charming when he loses his temper. Did you hear that? In a world where you can't do business, he finds it disgusting. Sagredo: Have you heard of this Dutch instrument? Galileo: Of course, I have. But the one I designed for the authorities is twice as good as the Dutch one. Imagine, if the court bailiff were in my house, how could I work? Virginia will soon need a dowry, and she is not a clever girl. Besides, I love to buy books, not just physics books. I also enjoy good food, and I often get inspired when I eat well. It's a corrupt era! The money they give me is not even as much as the wages of the horse-drawn cart driver who delivers wine for them. Two math lessons are only worth about 16 cubic meters of firewood. Now, I have managed to get more money from them each month, but I am still in debt, even with debts from 20 years ago. If I had 5 years of stable time to study, I would have proven everything I wanted to. Come, let me show you something else. Sagredo: Galileo, I seem to have a sense of fear. Galileo: Now, I will let you see a cloudy, luminous mist in the Milky Way. Tell me, what is it made of? Sagredo: It's countless stars. Galileo: Orion alone has 500 stars. The burned Bruno once said that these are the distant stars, countless worlds, various kinds of worlds. He had not seen those worlds, but he looked forward to seeing them one day! Sagredo: Even if the Earth is a planet, it's still far from proving Copernicus's heliocentric theory. In space, no celestial body has another celestial body orbiting it, but the moon always orbits the Earth. Galileo: I am thinking about this, Sagredo. Since the day before yesterday, I have been thinking about it. Look, this is Jupiter, and near it are four small planets, only visible with a telescope. On Monday, when I saw these four small planets, I didn't pay special attention to their positions. Yesterday, I observed them again, and I dare say that the positions of all four small planets have changed. I recorded this, but their positions changed again. What's going on? I did see four of them. Here, look! Sagredo: I saw three. Galileo: Where is the fourth? This is the table. We must calculate how these planets move. In the appropriate time for your defense, you submitted a certificate personally written by Cardinal Bellarmine. As you said, the purpose of requesting this certificate was to defend yourself against the slander you had suffered, in case your enemies used the fact that you had sworn to renounce your views and the order of the Holy Office to compensate you as a pretext to attack you. This certificate states that you did not swear to renounce or make amends, but only that you were informed of the decision of His Holiness the Pope and the publication of the "Index of Forbidden Books" by the Holy Office. In fact, this certificate merely declares that the theory of the Earth's motion and the sun's contradicts the Bible and should not be defended or upheld, without mentioning the two forbidden clauses in any way. Therefore, we are to believe that over the past 14 or 16 years, you forgot about this, so when you requested permission to print this book, you did not mention the prohibition. You also say that these words were not to excuse your mistake, but to explain that your fault was entirely due to vanity, not cunning. However, this certificate you presented as a defense onlyed your crime, because it already stated that the aforementioned views contradict the Bible, yet you dared to object and defend it, believing it to be persuasive. Similarly, your cunning trick of not mentioning the prohibition you were informed of and obtaining a printing license cannot bring you any benefit. We believe that you have not revealed the whole truth about your intentions, so we judge that you must submit to strict interrogation. During the interrogation, you must answer in the Catholic manner, but regarding the intentions you have admitted, this will not be affected; as mentioned before, we have also cited them to refute you. Therefore, after a detailed review of the merits or faults of this case, studying your testimony, confessions, the certificate you presented, and all other matters that should be reviewed and considered, we finally rule as follows: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his most glorious Virgin Mary, we, in the name of the court, having sought the advice and opinions of our counsel lawyers, respected masters of theology, and two doctors of law, now declare in writing: "The case or cases presented to us, in which one party is the outstanding Carlo Sinceri, two doctors of law, the financial prosecutor of this Holy Office, and the other party is Galileo Galilei, the defendant who is on trial, is/are found guilty and must undergo interrogation, as admitted and heard in the judgment above. To Julian de' Medici, Countess of Illyria, Lady Revel, and the respected gentlemen: It is time. I must interpret the letter I sent to Kepler a few weeks ago, in which the words were in reverse order. I say it is time because the truth has become completely clear, and I have no hesitation or doubt. You know that for the past three months, whenever Venus appeared at night, I have carefully observed it with a telescope to see my rational, no longer suspecting observation. At first, I saw that the shape of Venus was round, clear, and complete, but very small. It maintained this shape until one day, when the shape began to change, becoming larger and gradually approaching its greatest angular diameter from the sun. Then, Venus moved east of the sun and began to no longer have a circular outline. In a few days, it shrank into a complete semicircle. The semicircle lasted for a while, then it began to deviate from the tangent and moved away from the sun. At this point, it was no longer a semicircle but appeared as a crescent, becoming thinner and shrinking into two slender horns until it completely disappeared. The next morning, it was again seen as a very thin crescent, with the horns turned away from the sun. It gradually increased in size until its greatest angular diameter, then became a semicircle, remaining unchanged for several days. Then, it quickly transitioned from a semicircle to a circle, and the round shape lasted for several months. But at this time, its angular diameter was nearly five times that of its appearance at night. This remarkable observation clearly proves two hypotheses, two that even the smartest people in the world have been skeptical of. One hypothesis: All planets are naturally non-luminous (because Venus is like this, and Mercury will be too). The other hypothesis: Venus must orbit the sun, and Mercury and all other planets will do the same. Regarding the second hypothesis, the followers of Pythagoras, Copernicus, Kepler, and I, have firmly believed it, but we have never had solid evidence. Now we have evidence for Mercury and Venus. Kepler and other supporters of Copernicus can be proud of their correct belief. Our research is right, even though the philosophers who books in the past and now say we are ignorant or almost mad. Therefore, in the letter I sent to you, the sentence formed by reversed letters: "HaecimmaturaameiamfrustralegunturO．Y．" should be read as "Cynthiaefigurasaemulaturmateramorum," meaning "Venus imitates the phases of the moon." Three nights ago, I observed an eclipse of the moon and did not see anything noteworthy. I only saw that the edge of the shadow was blurred, as if covered in thick fog, because the shadow came from the very distant Earth. I also wanted to describe other details, but the esteemed gentlemen took up a lot of my time. It is already late, and I must end this letter. Please convey my regards to Kepler, Hasdal, and Seggett, the esteemed gentlemen. I kiss the hand of Lady Illyria and ask God to bless her. The grateful servant of Lady Illyria and Lady Revel, Galileo
January 1, 1611, in Florence
Dialogue and Selected Letters, Galileo