Dava Sobel's 1999 classic _Galileo's Daughter_ (42-43) describes a star party held on another April 14 - in 1611 - on the highest hill above Rome. The occasion was a nighttime feast given by the Marquis of Monticelli Federico Cesi in honor of the Florentine mathematician Galileo. Galileo enjoyed international celebrity following the 1610 publication of his _The Starry Messenger_, and by the feast, Cesi hoped to encourage Galileo, who was visiting Rome, to join the Lyncean Academy of Sciences. The Lyncean Academy, which Cesi founded, was the western world's first major scientific society. Galileo brought his ``spyglass'' invention to the banquet in order to amuse other guests. During the night's observing, another guest, Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani turned to Galileo, and to paraphrase, suggested, ``Galileo, instead of calling this thing a `spyglass,' why don't you call it a `tele-scope'?" In Greek, "tele" means "long distance" and scope means "to look." Clear Skies - Kurt
What Sobel didn't mention was that all the male guests were crowded around the spyglass once Galileo turned it onto the public baths, from his vantage point on the hill. It was "Ladies Night" at the baths. One enthusiastic guest suggested calling it a "boob tube". On 4/13/11, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dava Sobel's 1999 classic _Galileo's Daughter_ (42-43) describes a star party held on another April 14 - in 1611 - on the highest hill above Rome.
Good one Chuck! -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 1:50 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] A star party from a past April 14 What Sobel didn't mention was that all the male guests were crowded around the spyglass once Galileo turned it onto the public baths, from his vantage point on the hill. It was "Ladies Night" at the baths. One enthusiastic guest suggested calling it a "boob tube". On 4/13/11, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dava Sobel's 1999 classic _Galileo's Daughter_ (42-43) describes a star party held on another April 14 - in 1611 - on the highest hill above Rome.
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A few of us old timers on the list remember an well known amateur astronomer back in the 70s and 80s called Ben Mayer. Ben was an interesting character (just ask Charlie) who enjoyed telling how he first got into amateur astronomy. He lived on a hillside in Beverly Hills and was fond of admiring the "wildlife" that clustered around the various swimming pools down the hill from him during the warmer months. He said binoculars were ok but he wanted to see more detail so he bought a C-8 with no thought of using it for astronomy. But as fall turned to winter there was less and less to look at on the ground so one evening he decided to use it for looking at heavenly bodies above. And he was hooked. Cheers, patrick :) On 14 Apr 2011, at 13:49, Chuck Hards wrote:
What Sobel didn't mention was that all the male guests were crowded around the spyglass once Galileo turned it onto the public baths, from his vantage point on the hill. It was "Ladies Night" at the baths.
One enthusiastic guest suggested calling it a "boob tube".
On 4/13/11, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dava Sobel's 1999 classic _Galileo's Daughter_ (42-43) describes a star party held on another April 14 - in 1611 - on the highest hill above Rome.
participants (4)
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Canopus56 -
Chuck Hards -
Patrick Wiggins -
Rodger C. Fry