Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography [Hardcover]

Stillman Drake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1979

This fascinating, scholarly study by one of the world's foremost authorities on Galileo offers a vivid portrait of one of history's greatest minds. Detailed accounts, including many excerpts from Galileo's own writings, offer insights into his work on motion, mechanics, hydraulics, strength of materials, and projectiles. 36 black-and-white illustrations.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press; First edition (January 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226162265
• ISBN-13: 978-0226162263
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #667,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Galileo at Work, January 19, 2009

By 

J. Hudson (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography (Dover Phoenix Editions) (Hardcover)

This book is a classic, so it isn't clear what I could add to available information about it. There's a reason it's a classic, and in my opinion, another printing is needed.

Stillman Drake is a recognized biographer of Galileo. This book is the product of painstaking work. It is intended for one who is interested in how Galileo arrived at his conclusions, how his mind managed to focus on relevant physical quantities and discover mathematical relationships between them. The stark departure of this process from previous "philosophical" thinking is evident from the protests of the philosophers of his day.

Drake has added a section giving brief biographical sketches of the people with whom Galileo interacted. His footnotes trace the careful research that went into the book.

-Jerome Hudson