Lynx and the Telescope

Paolo Galluzzi is Director of the Museo Galileo, Florence, member of the Royal Academy of Science, Stockholm and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome. He authored more than 250 publications on Leonardo da Vinci, the Scientific Revolution, Galileo and scientific academies.

“Many of the details presented by Galluzzi will certainly be new to the uninitiated reader, as is the perspective of his narrative. Whereas Galileo’s scientific achievements in general and his conflict with the Church hierarchy are all well known and have been documented many times over, his relationship with the Accademia dei Lincei and the influence exerted in both directions present a new and interesting view on the episode in question. All this makes valuable reading for anyone who works in the field or is interested in these developments at the threshold of the scientific age.” Wolfgang Osterhage, in: Isis, Vol. 110, No. 2 (June 2019), pp. 403-404.“This book is an important revision to our understanding of the Lincean Academy, one of the earliest scientific societies.”Sheila J. Rabin, Saint Peter’s University, emerita. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Fall 2019), pp. 1045-1046.Praise for the Italian edition:“Paolo Galluzzi’s most recent publication is a deep immersion into the first quarter of the seventeenth century, with a narrative that switches back and forth between Florence and Rome and between Federico Cesi, founder and soul of the Accademia dei Lincei, and Galileo Galilei, member of the same academy.”Matteo Valleriani, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. In: Isis, Vol. 106, No. 4 (December 2015), pp. 919-920.“In his latest big book, Paolo Galluzzi presents all the known material on the relations between Galileo and Cesi and evaluates it in his usual exact and judicious manner. As a bonus, he describes Cesi’s complicated publications on natural history with immense patience and admirable clarity.”John L. Heilbron, University of California Berkeley. In: Quaderni storici, Vol. 150. No. 3 (December 2015), pp. 873-882. “By resorting to an impressive amount of primary sources and by tackling Cesi’s often obscure Latin writings, Galluzzi provides historians with a meticulous investigation of Cesi’s works and sheds new light on a key topic in Galileo’s career.”Antonio Clericuzio, Università di Roma Tre. In: Nuncius, Vol. 30, No. 3 (2015), pp. 709-714.

• List of FiguresPrefaceAbbreviationsNote to the Reader1 “The Secret of the Eyeglass”A ‘Piece of Nonsense’?Winning Over the Minds at the Collegio RomanoSecond Class Telescopes2 Parallel Convergences?The EncounterMutant Lynxes in the Academy’s MenagerieInitiation Ceremonies3 Fluid HeavensWavering CertaintiesTycho or Telesio?The Revival of Martianus CapellaCoup de théâtreStorm Clouds Gather4 Building a FriendshipNew Spectacles in the HeavensBooks, Frontispieces, Theatres, Mirrors and LaddersEmbarrassing OmissionsThe ‘Lincean Telescope’5 The Copernican System versus Holy ScriptureThe Spectre of Giordano BrunoCelestial AnimalsQuestions of Character?The League of Pigeons Launches the Attack6 Images of Nature: Book or Theatre?Prohibition ‘Is Also Done in Case of Doubt’The Natural Desire for KnowledgeSimulated versus True ReligionMiraculous Rains7 Confronting the New ScenarioCesi-Bellarmine: Attempts at Dialogue‘The Time Has Come to Grant Greater Freedom of Thought’Kepler Enters the Scene8 Relaunching CopernicanismAriosto versus TassoThe Copernican System Overthrown?A Delicate BalanceThe Ebb and Flow of FortuneTommaso Caccini Back on Stage?9 Metamorphosis of a Conjuncture: from ‘Marvellous’ to ‘Unfavourable’Boating on the LakeAn Ambiguous FuneralA Copernican CarriageCalamitous NoveltiesThe TurncoatElephants and Mites10 From the Heavens to the Bowels of the EarthThe Merging of the Two ProjectsUp and Down the Ladder of NatureFlowing NaturesMother EarthBotany for Metaphysicians?The Fate of Cesi’s Fossil Wood Researches11 The Immaculate Conception of the Barberini BeesHoney as a Gift from the Heavens and the Earth‘This Work Has Been Done for the Sole Purpose of Pleasing Patrons’12 Plants as Compendium of NatureLaying Out the Pages of the Book of NatureSyntax, Painting, Theatre, GardenA Galilean Syntaxis?The Multiple Gaze of the BotanistThe Elusive Geometry of PlantsGlimmerings of Consciousness and Sexual DrivesThe Bologna Stone AgainThe Garden of FlavoursFood for the MindA Preformistic Conception?Nature Was Not Created Once and for AllNames as Shadows of ThingsEpilogue‘It Has Been Impossible to Persuade Him to Make a Will’BibliographyIndex of Names