Of Further Interest: Galileo

Websites for optional reading and exploration.

• Famous Trials: The Trial of Galileo Galilei (1633)    [Website with the detailed history of the background leading to the trial and the trial itself, by Douglas Linder.]

https://www.famous-trials.com/galileotrial – see "Other Resources" 

• The Galileo Project  [Website by Rice University with lots of information about Galileo's life and science.]

http://galileo.rice.edu/

Articles for optional reading

• Galileo's Letter to Grand Duchess Cristina (28 pages including introduction and footnotes) – to view or download pdf, click here .  

Galileo joined the Medici court, where he became acquainted with the Duchess. He composed the letter in response to her question of how the Copernican idea of a moving earth could be compatible with those passages in the Bible that mention a fixed earth and a moving sun.

Videos for optional viewing

• PBS NOVA Documentary Galileo's Battle for the Heavens, YouTube video (1:48:55)  

Excerpts from Galileo's Battle for the Heavens will be shown in class. 

• Film by Joseph Losey  based on Bertolt Brecht's play Life of Galileo (Leben des Galilei), YouTube video (2:25:03), with Galileo played by Topol. The original Leben des Galilei was written in 1938, and the American version between 1945-47. 

Updated Sept. 21 2026