The dialogue format of The Ash Wednesday Supper works quite well in terms of expressing the underlying views expressed. Bruno is able to ask and then answer the inevitable questions which would follow his support of a heliocentric cosmos.
Bruno’s insistence not only of an infinite universe, but of an infinitely inhabited world seems to me an extraordinary belief for an individual living during his time. It was blasphemous enough to believe in a heliocentric cosmos, but by asserting there were worlds out there which were inhabited, might have been enough to convince the Catholic Church that Bruno was disavowing a belief in God. Who were these inhabitants and what was their relation to God?
I was also quite intrigued by the writing style and the contents of Kepler’s Somnium. By formatting it as a tale about a young man and his odd mother, Kepler is able to put forth his own theories about the cosmos. It becomes a story about his own beliefs infused in a science fiction story sure to cause readers to revaluate their own beliefs.
And finally, I really enjoyed reading the works of Galileo. As an avid viewer of the Science channel, I have watched several programs concerning Galileo’s theories, so it was finally great to read his own words. I was particularly fascinated by the description of his spyglass. Imagine finally seeing the craters of the moon for the first time, and in 1610!
1 comment:
it blows me away that they were able to go from seeing craters on the moon to deriding galileo for being a heretic.
the fact that his friend giovanni ciampioli had to warn him to back off because people could misconstrue his discoveries is incredible. when he wrote to galileo telling him tha he would be involved in a dangerous game of telephone, i.e. that his sighting of light and dart spots on the moon could then be turned into him comaring the earth to the moon, and then someone else would say that there are humans on the moon and that would spark the argument over whehter or not they came fom adam and eve, and how did they get on the ark...it reminds you of how knowledge was met with such fear, and also controlled and suppressed so much by the church so that they wiouldn't lose control over minds and souls (and therefore revenue).
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