Starry Messenger
I cannot recall its origin but there is an old adage that says one's way of thinking and speculating depends on his/her perspective. There is no need to argue about its validity for I am sure everyone would agree from their own experience. With the adage said above, I would like to propose a theory that there was a great gap between Galileo's way of thinking and those of others (like the priests at Vatican and people who worshiped the Aristotelian philosophies) for the difference in their perspective was far greater than anyone can imagine. It is no exaggeration to state that no one has spent as much time looking up the night sky as Galileo in his time. Everyone who has looked up the constellation in the night sky without an aid of any instrument would see that the full moon appears perfectly round. And given that those people have not been taught about the modern astronomy, it would be difficult to convince them that it is otherwise. One can only wonder how difficult it must have been for Galileo and his colleagues to convince their opposers. As obviously as it may sound, Galileo's sole purpose of using detailed illustrations and diagrams within his Starry Messenger was to convince its readers; and an attempt to prevent an
" He has definitely set the standard for the modern scientific experiment. Thus Galileo is a big contributor to the scientific revolution in that sense; he has truly defined what an acceptable scientific experiment ought to be. " (Shapin 32) When I reached the last page of the Starry Messenger and felt relieved, I came across a sentence that struck me. In "The Scientific Revolution," Shapin discusses about "the natural machine," and quotes several mathematicians and scientists. I remember drawing pictures of cells bacteria and recording my observations after looking through a microscope in high school. Galileo indeed is indispensable individual if we are to make a list of "the most influential contributors to the scientific revolution and the establishment of modern science. "It is known that the interposition of terrestrial vapors makes the sun and moon appear large while the fixed stars and planets are made to appear smaller. And his telescope did just that; it provided him with the incredible views that has never been explored before him. If one has perused and understood Galileo's writing in Starry Messenger, he/she would be able to identify all of the elements that are required in the modern scientific experiments. The illustrations and diagrams were his hard-earned evidence that is also backed up by his countless observations and written documents. He goes on with a few more of the similar questions just to make sure to have his readers understand but this is only a part of countless examples that Galileo provides of the elements found in a modern scientific experiments. This typical genre of scientific experiment is taught in schools and is practiced by modern scientists. For the sake of an impending argument, the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes announced that "there is no difference between the machines built by artisans and the diverse bodies that nature alone composes. " (Galileo 58) The reason it caught my attention is that while Galileo understood of the similarity between the natural machine and the artificial one, he also knew that there is in fact a difference in effect that the two can produce.
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Acceptance Essays
