his theoretical writings. His Dialogo della musica antica e
della moderna (1581) attacked Zarlino’s theories, declaring
that the Greek “modes” were quite different from the
church modes, and that Greek tuning was not as Zarlino
claimed. He condemned counterpoint and maintained
that vocal writing should follow the form of ancient Greek
music, which always had a single melodic line.
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian physicist and
astronomer
The son of Vincenzo GALILEI, Galileo began to study med-
icine in 1581 at the university of his native Pisa, but real-
ized that his real interest lay with mathematics, and in
1585 he left the university for Florence. There he rapidly
established his scientific reputation. In 1589 he began his
academic career as a mathematics lecturer at Pisa. Quar-
rels with colleagues forced him in 1592 to seek a compa-
rable post in Padua. There he formed a relationship with
Marina Gamba, a Venetian woman who bore him two
daughters (1600, 1602) and a son (1606). While in Padua
he made one of the most dramatic scientific discoveries of
all time. Early in 1610 he turned the newly invented tele-
scope to the heavens and, observing such totally unex-
pected phenomena as the satellites of Jupiter and the
mountains of the moon, he realized immediately that he
had thereby destroyed the plausibility of the still widely
accepted Aristotelian COSMOLOGY. Galileo quickly pub-
lished his observations in his Sidereus nuncius (1610;220000 GGaalliilleeoo GGaalliilleeiiGalenismThe title page of the first
printed edition (1525) of Galen’s works
in the original Greek. It was edited by
Andrea Torresani di Asolo and Giovanni
Battista Opiza and printed at the press
founded by Aldus Manutius of Venice,
whose anchor and dolphin device
appears on the title page.