GALILEO GALILEI, "EPPUR SI MUOVE / AND YET IT MOVES"

Università di Pisa

Today, Joseph de Ca'th Lon and his friends have visited the University of Pisa, one of the most prestigious centres of knowledge and studies in Europe. Joseph likes Astronomy and Science in general and he has wanted to discover new information about Galileo Galilei the great figure of the 16th and 17th centuries.
 

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564-8 January 1642) was a Tuscan astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of the scientific method, and the father of modern science.

Galileo studied speed and velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of relativity, inertia, projectile motion and also worked in applied science and technology, describing the properties of pendulums and hydrostatic balances, inventing the thermoscope and various military compasses, and using the telescope for scientific observations of celestial objects.

His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the observation of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, the observation of Saturn and the analysis of sunspots.

Galileo Gallilei

Galileo's championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to geocentric models such as the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture.

Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Inquisition, found vehemently suspect of heresy, and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. While under house arrest, he wrote Two New Sciences, in which he summarized work he had done some forty years earlier on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.

Galileo was born in Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence, on 15 February 1564, the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia, who had married in 1562.

More information: National Institutes of Health-US NLM

Galileo became an accomplished lutenist himself and would have learned early from his father a scepticism for established authority, the value of well-measured or quantified experimentation, an appreciation for a periodic or musical measure of time or rhythm, as well as the results expected from a combination of mathematics and experiment.

When Galileo Galilei was eight, his family moved to Florence, but he was left with Jacopo Borghini for two years. He was educated from 1575 to 1578 in the Vallombrosa Abbey, about 30 km southeast of Florence.

Galileo Galilei

Although Galileo seriously considered the priesthood as a young man, at his father's urging he instead enrolled in 1580 at the University of Pisa for a medical degree.

In 1581, when he was studying medicine, he noticed a swinging chandelier, which air currents shifted about to swing in larger and smaller arcs.

To him, it seemed, by comparison with his heartbeat, that the chandelier took the same amount of time to swing back and forth, no matter how far it was swinging. When he returned home, he set up two pendulums of equal length and swung one with a large sweep and the other with a small sweep and found that they kept time together. It was not until the work of Christiaan Huygens, almost one hundred years later, that the tautochrone nature of a swinging pendulum was used to create an accurate timepiece.

Up to this point, Galileo had deliberately been kept away from mathematics, since a physician earned a higher income than a mathematician. However, after accidentally attending a lecture on geometry, he talked his reluctant father into letting him study mathematics and natural philosophy instead of medicine. He created a thermoscope, a forerunner of the thermometer, and, in 1586, published a small book on the design of a hydrostatic balance he had invented, which first brought him to the attention of the scholarly world.

More information: Sciencing

Galileo also studied disegno, a term encompassing fine art, and, in 1588, obtained the position of instructor in the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, teaching perspective and chiaroscuro. Being inspired by the artistic tradition of the city and the works of the Renaissance artists, Galileo acquired an aesthetic mentality. While a young teacher at the Accademia, he began a lifelong friendship with the Florentine painter Cigoli, who included Galileo's lunar observations in one of his paintings.

In 1589, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Pisa. In 1591, his father died, and he was entrusted with the care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. In 1592, he moved to the University of Padua where he taught geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610.

The Dialogue by Galileo Galilei

During this period, Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure fundamental science, for example, kinematics of motion and astronomy, as well as practical applied science, for example, strength of materials and pioneering the telescope.

His multiple interests included the study of astrology, which at the time was a discipline tied to the studies of mathematics and astronomy.

In the whole world prior to Galileo's conflict with the Church, the majority of educated people subscribed either to the Aristotelian geocentric view that the earth was the center of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth, or the Tychonic system that blended geocentrism with heliocentrism.

More information: Space

On February 19, 1616, the Inquisition asked a commission of theologians, known as qualifiers, about the propositions of the heliocentric view of the universe.

In 1633 Galileo was ordered to stand trial on suspicion of heresy. He was interrogated while threatened with physical torture.

Galileo was found guilty, and the sentence of the Inquisition, issued on 22 June 1633.

According to popular legend, after recanting his theory that the Earth moved around the Sun, Galileo allegedly muttered the rebellious phrase And yet it moves"

It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he dedicated his time to one of his finest works, Two New Sciences. Here he summarised work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials, published in Holland to avoid the censor.

Galileo continued to receive visitors until 1642, when, after suffering fever and heart palpitations, he died on 8 January 1642, aged 77.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II, wished to bury him in the main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce, next to the tombs of his father and other ancestors, and to erect a marble mausoleum in his honour.

More information: Galileo Galilei to trial against the Inquisition

Who would set a limit to the mind of man?

Who would dare assert that we know all there is to be known?

Galileo Galilei

LAJATICO, THE HOME TOWN OF TENOR ANDREA BOCELLI

Visiting Lajarico, Tuscany

Tina Picotes and her friends are visiting Lajatico, a beautiful town near Pisa where singer Andrea Bocelli was born. Tina loves opera and visiting Lajatico is a good opportunity to discover the origins of one of the most amazing and beautifu voices around the world nowadays.

Lajatico is a comune in the Province of Pisa, Tuscany, located about 50 kilometres southwest of Florence and about 40 kilometres southeast of Pisa. Lajatico sits in mainly hilly terrain at variable elevations from 100 to 650 metres above sea level and dominates the end of the Valdera valley and the opening of the valley known as Val di Cecina.

La Sterza, one of its hamlets, is the natural door between these two geographical areas. The Sterza, Era, and the Ragone rivers form natural borders, placing Lajatico in a very central position to reach Tuscan cities and seaside resorts.

Tina Picotes visits Teatro del Silenzio, Lajarico

Lajatico is, however, best known as the home town of tenor Andrea Bocelli. His annual concerts at the Teatro del Silenzio are attended by people from all around the world, every year.

Lajatico has the following hamlets associated with it: Orciatico, an ancient small medieval village; San Giovanni di Val d'Era; and La Sterza. Another small locality is Spedaletto, a stomping ground of Lorenzo de' Medici. Lajatico borders the following municipalities: Chianni, Montecatini Val di Cecina, Peccioli, Riparbella, Terricciola, Volterra.

Lajatico, as the suffix atico indicates, is of Lombard origins (c. 7th century AD), but the first settlements are much more ancient. Archaeological evidence suggests, a funeral stone, some urns, and terracotta vases that the village is Etruscan in origin.

The first written document mentioning Lajatico dates from 891. From then on, the Castrum Ajatici was property of the powerful Pannocchieschi family of Elci.

More information: Andrea Bocelli-Teatro del Silenzio

In 1139, Ranieri Pannocchieschi gave to the Bishop of Volterra, Adimaro Adimari, his property stretching to Lajatico and neighboring areas. In 1161, another part of Lajatico was given to the Bishop of Volterra, until Bishop Ildebrando Pannocchieschi, due to a Papal Bull of August 1186, took over the political jurisdiction.

In 1202, Lajatico and part of Volterra came under the influence of Pisa until 1284, when Pisa was defeated by Genoa in the Battle of Meloria.

Jordi Santanyí visits Lajatico, Tuscany

At the end of the hostilities, Lajatico came back to the Bishop of Volterra, who brought it, together with Orciatico, Pietracassia and other castles, under the jurisdiction of the city of Florence, which held it until the peace of Fucecchio, in 1293.

Aside from 1362, when Florence occupied Lajatico for a short time, and kept it under the jurisdiction of Pisa until 1406, when Pietro Gaetani, a Pisan noble who decided to sell out his native land, and gave the castles of Lajatico, Orciatico and Pietracassia to the Florentines.

In 1434, the Florentines demolished not only the walls of the town, but also the wall and towers of the surrounding villages, to punish their inhabitants for their submission to Niccolò Piccinino, condottiero under the Visconti of Milan.

In 1664, the same castles with their territories were ceded as a marquisate to the Corsini until 1776, when Lajatico annexed the municipality of Orciatico. 

In 1869, it also annexed part of the territories belonging to the municipalities of Montecatini and Volterra.

More information: Visit Tuscany

Andrea Bocelli (born 22 September 1958) is a Tuscan singer, songwriter, and record producer. Céline Dion has said that if God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli, and David Foster, a record producer, often describes Bocelli's voice as the most beautiful in the world.

Andrea Bocelli

He was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma and became completely blind at age 12, following a soccer accident.

Since 1982, Bocelli has recorded 15 solo studio albums of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 90 million records worldwide.

He has had success as a crossover performer, bringing classical music to the top of international pop charts.

In 1998, Bocelli was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1999, he was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. The Prayer is his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film Quest for Camelot which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. 

He captured a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records with the release of his classical album Sacred Arias, as he simultaneously held the top three positions on the US Classical Albums charts.

Bocelli was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2006 and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 2 March 2010 for his contribution to Live Theater.

More information: Andrea Bocelli

A career is like a house: it's made of many bricks,

and each brick has the same value,

because without any one of them, the house would collapse.

Andrea Bocelli

PISA, THE AGE OF THE REPUBLIC & THE LEANING TOWER

The Grandma & Claire visit Pisa, Tuscany

Today, Claire Fontaine and her friends have visited Pisa, one of the most beautiful cities in Tuscany. Pisa is well-known thanks to its Leaning Tower and its inhabitants like Galileo Galilei.

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the bell tower of the city's cathedral, the city contains more than 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and various bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

The city is also home of the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century and also has the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, as the best-sanctioned Superior Graduate Schools in Italy.

More information: Visit Tuscany  

The origin of the name, Pisa, is a mystery. While the origin of the city had remained unknown for centuries, the Pelasgi, the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Ligurians had variously been proposed as founders of the city, for example, a colony of the ancient city of Pisa, Greece.

Archaeological remains from the fifth century BC confirmed the existence of a city at the sea, trading with Greeks and Gauls.

The presence of an Etruscan necropolis, discovered during excavations in the Arena Garibaldi in 1991, confirmed its Etruscan origins.

Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Strabo referred Pisa's origins to the mythical Nestor, king of Pylos, after the fall of Troy. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; the settlers from the Alpheus coast have been credited with the founding of the city in the Etruscan lands.

Joseph & Jordi visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa

During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea.

After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered.

The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).

More information: Discover Tuscany

In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy, Genoese excluded, a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany.

Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.

In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too.

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo, people's chieftain, as civil and military leader. In spite of these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti.

 

Tonyi Tamaki visits the Leaning Tower of Pisa

The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. Furthermore, in the 15th century, access to the sea became more and more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea.

When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa grabbed the opportunity to reclaim its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Italian Torre pendente di Pisa, or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The tower is situated behind the Pisa Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in the city's Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo), after the cathedral and the Pisa Baptistry.

More information: Love from Tuscany

The tower's tilt began during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground on one side, which was unable to properly support the structure's weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed in the 14th century. It gradually increased until the structure was stabilized, and the tilt partially corrected, by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The height of the tower is 55.86 metres from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 m. Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase.

In 1990 the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but following remedial work between 1993 and 2001 this was reduced to 3.97 degrees, reducing the overhang by 45 cm at a cost of £200m. It lost a further 4 cm of tilt in the two decades to 2018.

There has been controversy about the real identity of the architect of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. For many years, the design was attributed to Guglielmo and Bonanno Pisano, a well-known 12th-century resident artist of Pisa, known for his bronze casting, particularly in the Pisa Duomo. 

Pisano left Pisa in 1185 for Monreale, Sicily, only to come back and die in his home town. A piece of cast bearing his name was discovered at the foot of the tower in 1820, but this may be related to the bronze door in the façade of the cathedral that was destroyed in 1595.

A 2001 study seems to indicate Diotisalvi was the original architect, due to the time of construction and affinity with other Diotisalvi works, notably the bell tower of San Nicola and the Baptistery, both in Pisa.

More information: Tower of Pisa

Construction of the tower occurred in three stages over 199 years. Work on the ground floor of the white marble campanile began on August 14, 1173 during a period of military success and prosperity. This ground floor is a blind arcade articulated by engaged columns with classical Corinthian capitals.

The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the second floor in 1178. This was due to a mere three-metre foundation, set in weak, unstable subsoil, a design that was flawed from the beginning. Construction was subsequently halted for almost a century, because the Republic of Pisa was almost continually engaged in battles with Genoa, Lucca, and Florence. This allowed time for the underlying soil to settle.

Numerous efforts have been made to restore the tower to a vertical orientation or at least keep it from falling over. Most of these efforts failed; some worsened the tilt.

In May 2008, engineers announced that the tower had been stabilized such that it had stopped moving for the first time in its history. They stated that it would be stable for at least 200 years.

More information: Walks of Italy

 

 I gave birth to our daughter Coco in Pisa,

and it was a wonderful time in all our lives.

Trudie Styler

SEE YOU SOON, ITALY!

Asun Holmes & Corto Maltese in Venice

Yesterday, The Holmes reviewed some aspects of grammar and talked about adverbs of manner. They also created a Personal Message, discussed about job webpages and its difficulties and read a little more of Charles Dickens’ A Carol Christmas. The family stayed all the weekend in Venice enjoying the carnival and sailing by gondola thanks to Asun.

The Grandma explained a story about Navajo Language and Culture and how difficult is keeping them nowadays.

More information: Naval History and Heritage Command

Today, The Holmes have reviewed The Superlatives and some modal verbs like Must, Have to and Should. Moreover, they’ve created a composition using this new theory and they have worked Social English, too.

More information: Adverbs of Manner

For other hand, the family is spending its last hours in Italy. This morning they’ve visited Pisa; this afternoon Verona and in this moment they’re having dinner in Siena.

More information: Superlatives Adjectives

In a few hours, they’re flying to Belgium and later to London. Tomorrow, the family is going to continue its adventures. The Grandma is going to explain them some stories about numbers and they’re going to prepare new budgets and invoices.

More information: Must vs. Have to

More information: Shall vs. Should 

The new cooperative is ready and they must start to work in it.

 

How far that little candle throws his beams! 

So shines a good deed in a weary world. 

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

IRIS APFEL & EUROVISION: ART & TRADITION

Yesterday, The Holmes reviewed Past Simple & Past Continuous, Articles, Present Continuous and the connectors While & When.

They also created a song for participating in the next Eurovision Contest Song. After some moments of emotion and nerves, the winners were Geni and Núria with the beautiful song “Idiot”. Both of them represented Belgium.

While the most part of The Holmes were creating their songs, Rosa was in Milano with The Grandma and Iris, an old friend of her, taking information about some new fashion business to invest.

For other hand, Geni must leave the family during some days because she must attend some personal business.

The family continues its Italian tour. After visiting Pisa, Siena and Verona they arrived to Venice where they are prepared to spend some beautiful moments enjoying the Carnival.

When you don't dress like everyone else, 

you don't have to think like everyone else.

 Iris Apfel

TELEPHONING IN ENGLISH

The Panthocrator of Taüll, Alta Ribagorça

Today, The Holmes have read another new chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Ghost of Canterville. It seems that the ghost is a little desperate with his new American family.

Next, they've listened to a new Grandma's story. This time it has been about Gypsy Culture and religious symbols like Pantocrator and the Black Virgins.

After that, they've gone shopping to practise countable & uncountable. They also have written a shopping list paying attention to money (coins & bills) and numbers (decimals and fractions).

Finally, they’ve started a new manual about Telephoning in English and they have practised some listening.

This weekend, they’re preparing a new journey. They want to go to Italy, from south –Sicily- to north -Milano, Verona, Siena, Pisa, Venice and Florence-, stopping in the way in Naples and Rome.   

  

  

I have two masters: God and the Devil.
 I work for the Devil until lunch, then I follow the Lord.

 Gypsy Proverb

THE ADDAMS FAMILY: ITALIAN TOUR

The Addams Family has been travelling by Italy during some days. First, they visited Firenze (Florence) where they walked around the Dome and around the historical centre which was catalogued by UNESCO as World Heritage. They went to The Uffizi’s Gallery, Santa Maria di Loreto’s Church and The Palazzo Vecchio. In the Tuscany’s capital, they ate and drank local products and shared nice moments in other neighbour cities like Siena and Pisa, where they visited the Cathedral and The Leaning Tower.

More information: Some & Any Compounds

 

Next, they went to Venezia (Venice) where they sailed across the channels in gondolas and discovered the favourite city of Corto Maltese. They visited the Palazzo Ducale, the Rialto Bridge and San Marco’s Cathedral and walked across this incredible city plenty of history and art.

More information: Used to be

Finally, they arrived to Rome, the eternal city, where they relaxed between ancient ruins. They also visited other sightseen like the Fontana di Trevi, the Parthenon and the Tiber River, next to Castle Sant’Angelo and near The Vatican City.

More information: Shall & Should

More information: Relative pronouns

Now, The Addams Family has returned to Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona where they’re going to open a hotel and they are continuing with their English studies and reviewing some occupational hazards and employment.

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