The last day we were in Florence we visited the Museo Galileo. The two things that commanded my attention were the astronomical clock and the armillary sphere. The armillary sphere was created by Antonio Santucci in Florence between March 4, 1588 and May 6, 1593 at the request of Ferdinand I de’ Medici (there’s a familiar name).
The armillary sphere perplexed most of us. Dr. Leininger and Matthew stood looking at it and theorizing the possible meanings of its many rings. Well, instead of standing around theorizing the possible meaning, I decided to look up the real meaning later. According to the museum’s virtual walkthrough “The sphere represents the "universal machine" of the world according to the concepts developed by Aristotle and perfected by Ptolemy. The terrestrial globe is placed at the center. Surprisingly, it even displays territories that were still relatively little known at the time. [However, after being] Restored in the nineteenth century by Ferdinando Meucci, the device is now incomplete and some of its parts are mismatched.” Also according to the museum website “[Santucci was a] Reader in Mathematics at the University of Pisa, 1599-1612, Antonio Santucci was an astronomer and cosmographer … An attentive observer of comets, most notably that of 1582, he published in 1611 the first edition of Tratto delle comete, in which he argued that – contrary to the prevailing scientific opinion – comets were not atmospheric phenomena. … His monumental armillary spheres are famous”.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica an armillary sphere “is a model of objects in the sky … consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth, that represents lines of celestial longitude and latitude of other astronomically important features… As such, it differs from the celestial globe, which is a smooth sphere whose principal is to map the constellations.”
One ring (equinoctial A) is divided into 360 degrees and into 24 hours to show the sun’s ascension in time.
Another (Ecliptic B) is divided into the 12 signs and each of those signs into 30 degrees to show the exact position of the sun according to every day of the year.
There are series of rings that show the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles perspectively.
One ring for Aries and Libra, another for Cancer and Capricorn each showing the location of the sun and stars.
And many more screws, knobs, wires, and rings that each represent something else.
“And so, by this construction, the machine is equally fitted to show either the real motion of the earth, or the apparent motion of the heaven.”
On another note: I’m really glad that we visited the museum. Although our class focuses on the Theology, Philosophy and Arts of the Italian Renaissance, one of the key factors of the Renaissance was the Human Enlightenment and Humanism including the rise in scholarship. Science, and the contributions that Galileo made, would definitely fall into this category. I don’t think our trip to Florence would have been complete without the visit to the museum (also, I’m a science nerd and was tickled to death to see all the instruments and inventions of early science).
Matthew and I also traveled to Basilica di Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Galileo and many other famous people are buried. We had the pleasure of attending mass at the cathedral and it was an irreplaceable experience beyond value that I will never forget.
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