Galileo?s Finger

Gold and cypress armillary. Image: Museo Galileo.

If you are a science geek the?Galileo Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy, is a treasure house of wonder ? even though it?s almost everything a science museum should not be.

The Bad

The museum is baffling. There are many wonderful things available to see and they are labeled in English. But they don?t explain what the things are. And when you?re staring at a scientific instrument from the 1500s just giving it a name is often simply not enough.

There?s no interaction. There?s not a single solitary thing to be touched or played with. That?s almost particularly painful because many of the exhibits are the archetypes of the interactive exhibits in other science museums around the world. Galileo it turns out was not only good at observing, he also had a fine line in making scientific instruments and demonstrations. So in beautiful polished wood and brass you find the most lovely, finely made originals of demonstrations of balls falling down inclined planes and through arcs, of Newton?s cradle, and many other things.

It doesn?t tell a story. This is an old-style museum with display cases full of materials. The Museum?s website provides wonderful background, depth, and context which is strangely lacking in the museum itself. In fact the website is worth a look even if you are unlikely to ever visit the Museum.

So there are problems, but that?s way short of the whole story.

Galileo's actual finger...

The Beautiful

The exhibits themselves are just? stunning. These are exhibits from a time when science was fun and engaging and hands-on. There?s no theory here, just beautifully made instruments for observing and demonstrating the world around us. It?s like some steam-punk perfection of polished brass, finely-turned wood and carefully cut glass. The huge armillary sphere, for example, over 11 feet tall, made of gold and cypress wood, and showing the motions of all the planets at the time is just?unbelievable.

And these objects are not abstractions or copies. There?s the actual telescope and lenses used by Galileo in his observations.The lenses used by Sir Humphrey Davy to burn a diamond.

The Strange and Maybe Symbolic

Rather weirdly the Museum also houses one of Galileo?s fingers and a thumb.

The finger, the middle finger of his right hand, sits in a glass case held perpetually upright. It?s not pointing anywhere in particular but it?s hard not to smile at the potential for symbolism given history has proved Galileo right in spite of his being forced to recant. I couldn?t help listening for a faint echo of Galileo?s words ?And yet it moves.?

Evan is currently on a round the world trip with his family. His travel blog is at: http://penguintravelling.wordpress.com

Source: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/04/galileos-finger/

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