Nature, Experiment, and the Sciences

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Galileo Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Dating and Significance of Galileo’s Pisan Manuscripts

      • William A. Wallace

      Pages 3-50

   3. Galileo Galilei: An Astronomer at Work

      • William R. Shea

      Pages 51-76

   4. Galileo’s Theorem of Equivalence: The Missing Keystone of His Theory of Motion

      • Jürgen Renn

      Pages 77-103

   5. Was Galileo a Metaphysicist?

      • A. Rupert Hall

      Pages 105-121

   6. Drake Against the Philosophers

      • James MacLachlan

      Pages 123-144

3. From the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 145-145

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   2. Alhazen’s Debt to Ptolemy’s Optics

      • A. Mark Smith

      Pages 147-164

   3. Regiomontanus on the Critical Problems of Astronomy

      • Noel M. Swerdlow

      Pages 165-195

4. Science Since Galileo

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 197-197

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   2. G. D. Cassini and the Number of the Planets: An Example of Seventeenth-Century Astro-Numerological Patronage

      • I. Bernard Cohen

      Pages 199-205

   3. Lavoisier: Language, Instruments, and the Chemical Revolution

      • Trevor H. Levere

      Pages 207-223

   4. The Inductive Sciences in Nineteenth-Century England

      • Marie Boas Hall

      Pages 225-247

   5. Darwin Studies at Work: A Re-Examination of Three Decisive Years (1835–37)

      • M. J. S. Hodge

      Pages 249-274

   6. The Background to Heinrich Hertz’s Experiments in Electrodynamics

      • Jed Z. Buchwald

      Pages 275-306

   7. Science and History of Science

      • Enrico Bellone

      Pages 307-317

5. Concerning Books

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 319-319

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   2. The Stillman Drake Galileo Collection

      • Richard Landon

      Pages 321-337

6. Back Matter

   Pages 339-355

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This collection of essays is a tribute to Stillman Drake by some of his friends and colleagues, and by others on whom his work has had a formative influence. It is difficult to know him without succumbing to his combination of discipline and enthusiasm, even in fields remote from Renaissance physics and natural philosophy; and so he should not be surprised in this volume to see emphases and methods congenial to him, even on topics as remote as Darwin or the chemical revolution. Therein lies whatever unity the discerning reader may find in this book, beyond the natural focus and coherence of the largest section, on Galileo, and the final section on Drake's collection of books, a major and now accessible resource for research in the field that he has made his own. We have chosen, as the occasion for presenting the volume to Stillman Drake, Galileo's birthday; Galileo has had more than one birthday party in Toronto since Drake came to the University of Toronto. As for the title, it reflects a shared conviction that experiment is the key to science; it is what scientists do. Drake has already asserted that emphasis in the title of his magisterial Galileo at Work, and we echo it here. Those who have had the privilege and pleasure of working and arguing with Stillman over the years know his tenacity, penetration, and vigour. They also know his generosity and humility. We owe him much.

• Charles Darwin
• Darwin studies
• Galileo Galilei
• Galileo studies
• Ptolemy’s Optics
• Renaissance
• Scientific Revolution
• Theory of Motion
• astro-numerological patronage
• astronomy
• electrodynamics

• Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Victoria College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

  Trevor H. Levere

• Department of Philosophy, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

  William R. Shea

Policies and ethics