Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities
help avoid confusion glossaries of key terms and key people in Galileo s story have been included in the back of the book There is also a list of key locations Galileo's key writings and the popes and grand dukes of Tuscany during Galileo s lifetime Note that the Jesuits Dominicans Benedictines Carmelites and Franciscans mentioned throughout the book are all orders of the Catholic
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS HANKS TO ALL those who have helped and encour aged me during my Galilean odyssey Very special thanks to the legendary Buzz Aldrin for inspiring me and for writing the foreword Thanks to Cynthia Sherry for helping me refine the book proposal and see it through the editorial process Also thanks to my wife Caren for her help and encouragement Thanks to Matthew and Elizabeth for allowing me a few minutes here and there to write this book And a special thanks to Matthew for helping me test some of the activities Sincere thanks to all those excellent researchers who have come before me with consider able work to shed some light upon Galileo s life and
INTRODUCTION G ALILEO WAS A TRUE GENIUS Though we think of him mainly as an astronomer he was a man of many interests He enjoyed science mathematics music and art and made great discoveries that revolution ized the world Not simply a scientific philosopher he also applied his ideas to practical inventions This is the story of a thinker who was truly ahead of his time Galileo sought the truth and argued that there was no substitution for observation and experimentation He believed that whatever nature was whatever we observed must be what God made Whether or not the Bible or the theologians who studied it said as much the truth was present all around us waiting to be discovered Though his theories contradicted what the Church taught Galileo was a deeply religious man He knew the risks of writing that the earth revolves around the sun but he did not let the threat of punishment stop him He did not feel that his dis coveries should threaten the Church and did not see why religion had to overlap with science Galileo's life story is incredibly relevant today The struggle between science and religion has come up time and again in the years since Galileo lived not only in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in the
mid 19th century but also in the moral and religious dilemmas of today Should we split atoms alter genes or clone animals Do we forge ahead in the name of science or is there a point at which we should stop These key questions of the 21st century also played in Galileo's mind as he made and publicized new dis coveries that would change the world Is knowledge a goal in and of itself Is knowledge dangerous As Galileo found out the hard way science can become very political because knowledge is power The continued exploration of space that Galileo inspired holds the promise to reveal more about our origins As we discover more we are sure to run into issues of science versus religion Perhaps Galileo's thinking was right on target Perhaps science and religion can remain separate so long as each main tains respect for the other As Galileo might have said both science and religion help us to know our selves There is no need to eliminate one for the sake of the
