734 william eamon
The End of the RenaissanceThe tradition of mechanics that began with the revival of the pseudo-
aristotelian De mechanica came to fruition at the University of Padua,
where mechanics became part of the mathematics curriculum. in the 1560s,
Pietro catena (d. 1577) became the first professor of mathematics to include
mechanics in his lectures.96 Giuseppe Moletti (1531–88) also lectured on
the Mechanical Problems from the mathematics chair. Moletti, a native
of Messina, had been a pupil of the Greek mathematician Maurolico. a
prolific author, Moletti wrote a number of mathematical works, including
a treatise on mechanics, although most were never published.97
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), Moletti’s successor in the mathematics
chair, had first studied and taught mathematics at the University of Pisa.
He held the Padua chair until 1610, when he took the post of mathema-
tician and philosopher to the Grand duke of Tuscany. like catena and
Moletti, Galileo lectured on the Mechanical Problems, and his surviving
notes indicate his extensive use of the work in developing his science
of mechanics. in 1594, he wrote a short treatise on mechanics entitled
Le meccaniche [on Mechanics].98 He grew increasingly critical of aristote-
lian physics and cosmology and soon became convinced that aristotelian
physics was untenable. By 1597, Galileo had converted to the copernican
system, although he did not publicly endorse the theory until 1610.
The circumstances that finally led Galileo to come out openly in support
of copernicanism were precipitated by the news that reached him in 1608
of a new speculum, or “spy glass,” that brought distant object closer, which
had recently been invented by a dutch lens grinder.99 Galileo improved
the device, turned his primitive telescope onto the night sky, and revealed
characteristics of the heavens never before seen. in addition to discov-
ering the satellites of Jupiter, Galileo saw countless previously invisible
stars. of more obvious cosmological significance was the revelation that
96 Paul lawrence rose, “Professors of Mathematics at Padua University 1521–1588,”
Physis 17 (1975), 300–04; W. r. laird, “The Scope of renaissance Mechanics,” Osiris 2 (1986),
43–68.
97 W. r. laird, The Unfinished Mechanics of Giuseppe Moletti (Toronto, 2000).
98 Stillman drake, “Galileo Gleanings, V: The earliest Version of Galileo’s Mechanics,”
Osiris 13 (1958), 262–90.
99 an excellent summary of the main issues is eileen reeves, Galileo’s Glassworks: The
Telescope and the Mirror (cambridge, Mass., 2008). in addition, see albert Van Helden,
“The invention of the Telescope,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 67
(1977), 20–36.