Auguri di Buon Natale 2008

Nel 1609, quattrocento anni fa, Galileo Galilei mostrava il suo primo telescopio agli uomini di legge veneziani. L’anno successivo, nel libretto Sidereus Nuncius, egli descriveva le sue scoperte astronomiche. Galileo asseriva di aver visto montagne sulla luna e che la Via Lattea era formata da piccole stelle. Affermava inoltre di aver scoperto quattro piccoli corpi in orbita intorno a Giove che egli battezzava “Stelle medicee”. Spediva così a Firenze in dono a Cosimo de’ Medici, Granduca di Toscana, un eccellente telescopio per poterle ammirare. Galileo, l’uomo della “necessaria dimostrazione”, ovvero della rigorosa analisi scientifica, nel contempo affermava:
“Nelle mie scoperte scientifiche ho appreso più col concorso della Divina Grazia che con i telescopi”.

Maria Paola Frattolin

The Gospel of Matthew tells us of the Magi coming from the East, precisely from ancient Persia. They were the first religious figures to worship and recognize Christ. Astrologers and Zoroastrians priests, the Magi came to Bethlehem following the star and, since the Early Christianity, they have been regarded with honour and esteem. They have been associated to the positive attitude of the refusal of the darkness and the search for the spiritual light.

In 1609, four centuries ago, Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers. The following year he described his astronomical discoveries in the little book Sidereus Nuncius, the “Starry Messenger”. Galileo affirmed to have seen mountains on the Moon and to have proved that the Milky Way was made up of tiny stars. Moreover he announced to have seen four small bodies orbiting Jupiter that he named Stelle Medicee, “the Medicean stars”. Therefore, he sent to Florence in gift to Cosimo de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, an excellent telescope for himself to watch the little planets. Galileo, the man who asserted the “necessaria dimostrazione”, the rigorous mathematical analysis, at the same time declared:
“In my scientific discoveries, I have learnt more with the help of the Divine Grace than with telescopes”.

Maria Paola Frattolin