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Galileo’s Major Works

YearBookSubjectContribution
1610Sidereus nuncius [Sidereal Messenger]Telescopic observations.Qualitative observations of the stars, moon, Venus, moons of Jupiter, and the 'handles' on Saturn were polemical ammunition for Copernicanism.
1613Lettere sulle macchie solari
[Letters on sun spots]
Telescopic observations and mathematical analysis of sunspots.Demonstration of solar 'imperfections', axial rotation, and contiguous nature of sunspots.
1615Lettera a Madama Cristina
[Letters to the Grand Duchess
Christina]
Science and religion;
philosophy of science.
Attempt to seperate scientific concerns from theological dogma; the strengths and limits of scientific inquiry.
1623Il saggiatore [The Assayer]Philosophy of science; wide discussion of troublesome physical phenomena.Polemic on the nature of scientific investigation, particularly astronomical phenomena, based on observation & descriptive mathematics.
1632Dialogo [Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World]Cosmology in the broadest sense; Copernicanism; kinematics.Brilliant literary polemic against Aristotelians in favor of Copernicus and the physics of a moving earth: inertia, relativity, and conservation of motion.
1638Discorsi [Discourse on the
Two New Sciences]
Terrestrial kinematics; theory of matter, strength of materials.Mathematical (kinematic) demonstration and systematization of the science of motion and a discussion of the strength of materials.