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Scientists want to exhume Galileo's Body

post #1 of 23
1/23/09 at 8:45am
Thread Starter 
http://news.aol.com/article/scientis...368x1201184544

Why? Why can't the time and money be put towards something more useful? This makes no sense to me at all.
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post #2 of 23
1/23/09 at 8:51am
well, I think they must have massively more powerful telescopes now so they can see what he couldn't, eye problems or not, back in the 1600s, so why bother? His major theory was that the earth revolves around the sun and that is obviously true
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post #3 of 23
1/23/09 at 8:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbbysMom View Post
http://news.aol.com/article/scientis...368x1201184544

Why? Why can't the time and money be put towards something more useful? This makes no sense to me at all.
Wonder if this is part of the "science" jobs that the new Administration is bucking for?
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post #4 of 23
1/23/09 at 9:00am
The man's dead - leave him be!
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post #5 of 23
1/23/09 at 9:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbbysMom View Post
Why? Why can't the time and money be put towards something more useful? This makes no sense to me at all.
Your right Karen. This country's in a mess right now, so the money spent on that would be handy
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post #6 of 23
1/23/09 at 11:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by neetanddave View Post
Wonder if this is part of the "science" jobs that the new Administration is bucking for?
Of course, its Obama's fault!
Quote:
British and Italian scientists want to conduct DNA tests on the remains of astronomer Galileo Galilei to find out whether his deteriorating vision impacted his observations of the planets. The group is awaiting permission from the Catholic Church to exhume the remains from his tomb in Santa Croce Basilica in Florence, Italy...
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post #7 of 23
1/23/09 at 11:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockcat View Post
Of course, its Obama's fault!
It's a science job, Congress might be the ones put that category in. I never blamed BHO.

And you know American scientists would want to be involved, who wouldn't?
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post #8 of 23
1/23/09 at 11:56am
Let's see, how long ago did he die? How much remains of the body to study?
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post #9 of 23
1/23/09 at 12:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by katiemae1277 View Post
His major theory was that the earth revolves around the sun and that is obviously true
Heliocentrism was not something discovered by Galileo, though it was a theory he believed and helped prove through actual observations. It actually dates back very far, in several ancient cultures, with Copernicus providing the first predictive mathematical model for the heliocentric system. Galileo merely supported this and sought to prove Copernicus's work/theories as correct.

I don't see why his remains shouldn't be tested. Look at were pursing theories gets us? Though I'm not sure they would find anything, chances are he could have went blind due to several things. As for cost, maybe the whole thing will end up filmed with National Geographic or Discovery helping to foot the bill.
How many here would watch a show over it or read the article?
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post #10 of 23
1/23/09 at 12:40pm
Tis the year to dig up long-dead astronomers, I guess.

Tycho Brahe is going to be exhumed, too, in an attempt to prove he was poisoned by a contract killer. His death may have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

Hamlet may have poisoned stargazer Tycho Brahe in mercury murder
400-year-old murder mystery of astronomer 'to be solved'
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post #11 of 23
1/23/09 at 12:40pm
Long before Copernicus there was a Greek astronomer and mathematician named Aristarchus who came to the conclusion that the Sun was the center of the solar system and that all of the planets, including Earth, revolved around the Sun.
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post #12 of 23
1/23/09 at 12:49pm
well than what the heck did Gallileo do??
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post #13 of 23
1/23/09 at 12:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Essayons89 View Post
Long before Copernicus there was a Greek astronomer and mathematician named Aristarchus who came to the conclusion that the Sun was the center of the solar system and that all of the planets, including Earth, revolved around the Sun.
Which is what I said - Copernicus only helped refine the model for it. But in relation to Galileo, he supported Copernicanism. IMO, Galileo is given too much credit and too many are passed over - does anyone here even know who Kepler is?
(With the exception of Essayons, I would expect he might know)


To answer the question as to what Galileo did do. He did a lot with observational astronomy - proving theories through observation. But his greater contributions were to furthering/developing modern science.
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post #14 of 23
1/23/09 at 12:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by neetanddave View Post
It's a science job, Congress might be the ones put that category in. I never blamed BHO.
Okay......
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post #15 of 23
1/23/09 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
Which is what I said - Copernicus only helped refine the model for it. But in relation to Galileo, he supported Copernicanism. IMO, Galileo is given too much credit and too many are passed over - does anyone here even know who Kepler is?
well, i've heard of Kepler... [probably from sci-fi ] but would have to do some searching to know exactly what he did.
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post #16 of 23
1/23/09 at 9:20pm
I am absolutely in favor... Only with curiosity there is advancement in science... One of the things that Galileo worked on, was the mapping of the moon, and of several planets as well. He had a theory that Saturn was not completely round - as it is, of course, we can not send someone to Saturn. By studding his DNA, they would be able to see if what he saw, in his telescope, was a result of his disease... I am sure if it was, quite a few of his theories will start being questioned and better understood...
When the US sent people to the moon, LOTS of people questioned if those millions of $$$ were invested on the right place... SOOOOO many things today have been developed because of that trip!
This is science people - that is the way it is done; with a lot of questioning and curiosity... I hope the Catholic Church approves it - I doubt it though...
PS: Why are Obama and the congress being blamed for this??? - this is NOT even an American project!
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post #17 of 23
1/23/09 at 9:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by neetanddave View Post
It's a science job, Congress might be the ones put that category in. I never blamed BHO.

And you know American scientists would want to be involved, who wouldn't?
I wouldn't.
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post #18 of 23
1/23/09 at 9:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcat View Post
Tis the year to dig up long-dead astronomers, I guess.

Tycho Brahe is going to be exhumed, too, in an attempt to prove he was poisoned by a contract killer. His death may have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

Hamlet may have poisoned stargazer Tycho Brahe in mercury murder
400-year-old murder mystery of astronomer 'to be solved'
That's interesting, in my classes we were all quite fond of the lore regarding his bladder.
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post #19 of 23
1/23/09 at 9:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by katiemae1277 View Post
well than what the heck did Gallileo do??
Galileo is important because of his kinematic studies. He used mathematics to describe motion, found that projectiles follow a parabolic path, and falling objects are accelerated uniformly by gravity (for example a ball dropped from a height, and a ball rolling down a ramp).

ETA: He also discovered moons around some of the other planets, observed that the surface of the moon was not smooth, and some other interesting things.
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post #20 of 23
1/23/09 at 10:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbbysMom View Post
This makes no sense to me at all.
Sure it makes sense.

Galileo was a genius and centuries ahead of his time intellectually.

They exhume his body and they have access to his DNA. You get access to his DNA and you can clone.

I read in the paper a couple weeks ago that scientists are working at reconstructing the DNA sequence of the Wooly Mammoth and using an elephant. So essentially it would be a hybrid species.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, science is messing in areas that they have no business messing with, cloning is one of them.

I have no doubt that cloning is certainly in the minds of the scientists who are eager to
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post #21 of 23
1/23/09 at 10:02pm
He performed extensive studies on gravity - if it was not for Galileo I doubt we would have made it to the moon - and to the outer space, for that matter... In Science nobody is really alone... Aristotle, Newton, Galileo, Da Vinci... all geniuses... These people had great brains... Wow - Da Vinci ... Gee... Can you imagine that man with a laptop computer???
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post #22 of 23
1/23/09 at 10:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
Which is what I said - Copernicus only helped refine the model for it. But in relation to Galileo, he supported Copernicanism. IMO, Galileo is given too much credit and too many are passed over - does anyone here even know who Kepler is?
(With the exception of Essayons, I would expect he might know)
I disagree that Galileo is given too much credit, and absolutely disagree that Kepler has been glossed over as his discoveries are built upon the observations of Brahe. They are called "Kepler's Laws of Planetery Motion," after all. I don't know what the curriculum is any place else, but Kepler was introduced as early on as my high school physics class.

ETA: I totally fail at multiquote, sorry everyone!
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post #23 of 23
1/24/09 at 6:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Going Nova View Post
I disagree that Galileo is given too much credit, and absolutely disagree that Kepler has been glossed over as his discoveries are built upon the observations of Brahe. They are called "Kepler's Laws of Planetery Motion," after all. I don't know what the curriculum is any place else, but Kepler was introduced as early on as my high school physics class.

ETA: I totally fail at multiquote, sorry everyone!
Hah! I knew I heard of Kepler, I just couldn't remember for what!
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