Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican
By: Galileo Galilei ; translated and with revised notes by Stillman Drake ; foreword by Albert Einstein ; introduction by J.L. Heilbron.
Contributors: Drake, Stillman.
Series: Modern Library science series; Modern Library science series (New York, N.Y.)
Publisher: Modern Library
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 586
Subjects: Astronomy -- Early works to 1800.; Solar system -- Early works to 1800.
Genres: Early works to 1800.
Description: Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in Florence in 1632, was the most proximate cause of his being brought to trial before the Inquisition. Using the dialogue form, a genre common in classical philosophical works, Galileo masterfully demonstrates the truth of the Copernicancan system over the Ptolemaic one, proving, for the first time, that the earth revolves around the Sun. It's influence is incalculable. The Dialogue is not only one of the most important scientific treatises ever written, but a work of supreme clarity and accessibility, remaining as readable now as when it was first published. This edition uses the definitive text established by the University of California Press, in Stillman Drake's translation, and includes a Foreword by Albert Einstein and a new Introduction by J.L. Heilbron.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [541]-578) and index.
Originally published: Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems, Ptolemaic & Copernican. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1953.