Conversations with Galileo by William Shea

Author:William Shea
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786783912
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2019-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

I’ve heard it said that professors give private lessons to young noblemen. Did you do any of that?

Of course – that was one of the first things I did, and a large number of students came to see me. Now, I should mention that young aristocrats in Padua are either getting training in law or preparing for a career in the military. The first didn’t call on me, of course, but the second did, with the request that I teach them how mathematics could be useful to them for such things as defending their castles or blowing up those of their enemies. I hadn’t been interested in fortifications before, but I’m a good draughtsman and I soon learned enough about architecture and ballistics to draw ramparts and bastions. Since walls exposed to direct cannon fire are very vulnerable, I used my knowledge of geometry to devise interlocking fields of fire for the defensive cannons placed inside a fort. Students asked for my notes and I began selling a small manuscript treatise, which did very well. This gave me the idea of also selling notes on Euclid, mechanics and sundials. Business thrived and I had to hire an amanuensis. I also thought of doing what some other professors were doing, and I rented a house that was large enough to take in lodgers. Most of my tenants arrived with their own servant, and I could accommodate up to 12 guests at a time. The monthly fee was 32 florins per person, and that made a considerable difference in my finances.

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