interest to the learned world. At this dinner the discussion centered on floating bodies. Galileo
             maintained that bodies can float only if their specific gravity is less than that of water. Among the
             dinner guests there were, however, some followers of Aristotle's philosophies, and they argued
             that bodies float if their shape is wide and smooth so they cannot cut through the resistance of the
             water. Floating bodies were a topic on which Galileo was especially knowledgeable, as he had
             been interested in the subject since, when as a student, he had read Archimedes. He was able to
             support his point so brilliantly that one of the guests of honor, Maffeo Cardinal Barberini, sided
             with him. Years later, Cardinal Barberini became Pope Urban VIII and turned agai
             ...