This new scientific biography explores the influences on, and of, Galileo's exceptional work, thereby revealing novel connections with the worldviews of his age and beyond.

Galileo Galilei's contribution to science is unquestionable. And his conflict with the church establishment of his time is no less famous. In this book, authored by a physicist and history scholar, Galileo's life and work are described against a backdrop of the prior scientific state of the art in his various fiel ...