Still pointing to the stars
QUESTION Why was Galileo’s middle finger preserved and put on display at the Museo Galileo in Florence?
THE 17th-century astronomer, physicist and philosopher Galileo Galilei is still hugely influential, but he was hounded in his own lifetime.
In 1614, he was accused of heresy for his support of the Copernican theory that the sun is at the centre of the solar system. In 1616, he was prohibited by the Church from teaching or advocating these theories.
Galileo defended his views in Dialogue Concerning The Two Chief World Systems in 1632. He was tried by the Council of the Inquisition, found ‘vehemently suspect of heresy’ and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
After Galileo’s death in 1642, fearful that the Inquisition might deny him burial in consecrated ground, his friends and family hurriedly interred his body in a small room adjoining the chapel of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.
His patron Ferdinand II raised money for a tomb to be built in his honour. However, Pope Urban VIII refused to allow it. Galileo’s body remained in the unmarked grave for many years.
When his pupil Vincenzo Viviani died in 1703, he left money in his will for a tomb in which he would be buried with Galileo. Additional money was contributed by the architect Giovanni Nelli. In 1737, 95 years after Galileo’s death, the Vatican finally allowed his remains to be disinterred and reburied in a monumental tomb designed by Giulio Foggini.
During the reburial, Galileo’s admirers, including Florentine antiquarian Anton Francesco Gori, removed three fingers, a tooth and a vertebra to keep as relics.
The vertebra went to the University of Padua, where Galileo had taught for many years. The remaining body parts were kept by private collectors until their sudden disappearance in 1905. The fingers and tooth in an 18thcentury blown-glass vase, inside a wooden case with a bust of Galileo fixed on top, were put up for auction in 2009 by an unknown seller.
They were bought by Florence art collector Alberto Bruschi, who donated them to the Museo Galileo where visitors can see other artefacts and scientific instruments once used by Galileo.
It would not be until 1992 that the Catholic Church announced that errors had been made by the Council of the Inquisition in Galileo’s trial. On November 1, 1992, the New York Times reported: ‘It’s official: The Earth revolves around the sun, even for the Vatican.’
Simon Gallagher, Shropshire.
QUESTION What distance was covered in the first Tour de France? How do the times compare with today’s race?
THE first Tour de France in 1903 was won by Frenchman Maurice Garin. The race took 60 cyclists 19 days to complete. It consisted of six stages varying in distance from 275km to 470km, and the total distance was 2,429km.
This year’s Tour de France, won by Colombian Egan Bernal, took 23 days, which included two rest days. There were 22 teams, each with eight riders, and the total distance was 3,540km. As always, it started and finished in Paris.
Bill Dove, Nottinghamshire.
QUESTION If space is a vacuum, why doesn’t it suck in the air from the Earth’s atmosphere?
IN a word – gravity. According to Einstein, gravity is masses distorting the geometry of the four-dimensional space-time continuum, which creates a mutual attraction between masses. The greater the mass, the stronger the attraction; so tiny masses with little inertia tend to gravitate to massive objects, while massive objects gravitate to each other.
Hence, the same mutual attraction that keeps us on the Earth does the same to the atoms and molecules of gas and dust particles. The gravity of astronomical objects, such as planets, stars and galaxies, pulling in gas and dust is why the space in between them is a partial vacuum. Ian H. Machell, Wiltshire.
QUESTION Is it true the great 18th-century racehorse Eclipse almost never existed because his grandsire should have been put down?
THE earlier reply told the disputed story that Eclipse’s grandsire Squirt narrowly avoided being put down. It also mentioned that the Darley Arabian’s Y chromosome is present in more than 95% of male English thoroughbred horses today. Apparently, this horse, discovered in Aleppo, Syria, by the British consul, Thomas Darle, was selected on his good looks alone.
Darley Arabian was small at 15 hands. He may never have raced and being at a private stud, he probably didn’t cover many mares. But he did sire the unbeaten Flying Childers and his full brother Bartlet’s Childers, who, though unraced, became a prolific stallion – sire of Squirt, grandsire of Marske and great-grandsire of Eclipse. Bartlet’s Childers could be regarded as the father of the Eclipse line.
On the subject of founder, the tale of Squirt having narrowly avoided the bullet is almost certainly exaggerated. He was prone to founder throughout his career, so was retired early to stud. It’s most unlikely that a horse so closely related to the celebrated Flying Childers would have been put down. Chris Hillidge, Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Dymock, Gloucestershire.
QUESTION Why do the guards at Buckingham Palace wear their busby with the strap in front of their chin instead of under it?
THE Guards wear a bearskin, not a busby, which is a smaller felt head-dress worn by the Royal Horse Artillery and hussar regiments in full dress. Traditionally, both are affixed above the chin by a protective strap comprised of linked brass rings.
The metal chain was so placed to deflect or absorb an upward sabre strike directed to the face. The busby was derived from the Hungarian shako. In its original form, it had a bag of coloured cloth hanging from over the right shoulder to catch sabre cuts.
The reason why the hats were so tall (particularly the bearskin) was to disguise the exact position of the head, making it more difficult for enemy cavalry to strike the right area. Paul Davies, Hereford.