Galileo's book Il Saggiatore, and the beginning of science

In the latest StarTalk episode, Neil and gang discuss guest Matt Kaplan's book "Told You So! Scientists Who Were Ridiculed for Being Right".

Unsurprisingly, Galileo is roped in as "Exhibit A" – given his well-known conflicts with the Church, but also as an originator of science itself.

The podcast highlights Galileo's 1623 book Il Saggiatore – or "The Assayer" in English (an "assayer" is something like a chemist apparently!).

Matt explained that Il Saggiatore "effectively established what we know today as the scientific method". In a nutshell, Galileo thought this other astronomer (Orazio Grassi) was wrong about what comets were – and so he wrote this book.

I read a bit more, and interestingly – Galileo was actually wrong about comets (Grassi was right). But in making his (incorrect) case, Galileo ended up laying the foundations of how to do science.

Essentially Il Saggiatore argues that: the universe is governed by mathematical laws, and so science must focus on what can be measured/analysed with math and observations (as opposed to relying on philosophy and scripture/doctrine).

Thought this is an interesting piece of science trivia, so thought to share! You can read the abridged and English version of .