Life Of Galileo

Integrity, Freedom & Social Responsibility

Group 8
THE CONTEXT
 The Author: Bertold Brecht
Life: 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956
Nationality: German
Political Attitude: Marxist

• As an influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, he made

significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production

• In February 1933 he left Germany when Hitler took power

(Denmark, Sweden, Finland, United States)

• During the war years he became a prominent writer of the

“Exilliteratur”.

• He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist

movements in most of his plays (e.g. Life of Galileo, Mother Courage
and Her Children, The Good Person of Szechwan)

• He created the Epic Theatre as a means to criticize the contemporary

political situation
 Dramatic Theatre vs Epic Theatre
DRAMATIC THEATRE
Structure of the play
• One scene makes another
• Linear development
• Eyes on the finish
Human being in the play
• Is taken for granted
• Is unalterable
Role of the spectator
• Spectator is in the thick of it and
shares the experience
• He is provided with sensations
• Feeling
Aim of the play
• Entertainment
EPIC THEATRE
• Each scene stands for itself
• In curves
• Eyes on the course
• Is the object of inquiry
• Is alterable and able to alter
• Spectator stands outside and studies
• He is forced to take decisions
• Reason
• Encouragement to critical thinking
 Synopsis

• Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa in 1556.

• He was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and
philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution.
• Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his
lifetime
• After 1610, when he began publicly supporting the heliocentric view
• In February 1616, the Catholic Church condemned heliocentrism as
"false and contrary to Scripture", and Galileo was warned to abandon
his support for it—which he promised to do.
• In 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of
heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house
arrest.
NARRATION
1. GALILEO DETERMINES TO PROVE THE NEW
COPERNICAN SYSTEM
In the year of sixteen hundred and nine
Science’s light began to shine.
At Padua City, in a modest house,
Galileo Galilei set out to prove
The Sun is still, the Earth is on the move.
• Galileo is excited that a new age of change is beginning
• Explains the Copernicus Theory to Andrea
• Signora Sarti requests him to consider Ludovico as a
student
• Ludovico talks about a “tube with two lenses” which
enlarges things, which is selling in Holland
• Curator refuses Galileo’s request for increase in salary.
Instead asks him to come up with some new invention
 2. GALILEO PRESENTS THE REPUBLIC OF
VENICE WITH A NEW DISCOVERY
No one’s virtue is complete
Great Galileo likes to eat,
You will not resent, we hope
The truth about is telescope

• Presents the telescope as his discovery and gets 500

scudi for it
• Realizes the potential of the instrument when he’s
able to see the moon with it
• Wonders whether he’ll be able to prove a certain
theory
 3. GALILEO DISCOVERS PHENOMENON TO
PROVE THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM
January ten, sixteen ten
Galileo Galilei abolishes heaven

• Curator angry for being fooled to believe in the common

spy glass
• Galileo and Sagredo discover the moons of Jupiter and
see them rotating around the planet
• Galileo affirms that there is no Central star, and all
heavenly bodies are stars. Existence of God questioned
• Argue about whether the world is ready to accept the
truth.
• Galileo decides to go to Florence with his discovery.
• Wants to name the stars after Medici family to get instant
fame for the stars
4. IN FLORENCE WHERE GALILEO’S DISCOVERIES
ARE MET WITH DISBELIEF
The Old Says: As I am now, I have always been so
The New says: If you’re no good, then go

• Formally presents his theory to the Grand Duke, a

Theologian, Mathematician, and Philosopher
• Asked for reasons to question the old beliefs
• Refuse to look in through the telescope, questioning
its reliability
5. THE COLLEGIUM ROMANUM, THE VATICAN’S INSTITUTE
OF RESEARCH CONFIRMS GALILEO’S DISCOVERIES
Things take indeed a wondrous turn
When learned men do stoop to learn
Clavius, we are pleased to say
Upheld Galileo Galilei

• Two astronomers leave college considering it wrong

to even investigate the Copernicus theory
• An old Cardinal accuses Galileo of degrading God
• However Father Christopher Clavius approves of the
discoveries
6. INQUISITION PUTS COPERNICAN TEACHINGS ON INDEX

When Galileo was in Rome

A Cardinal asked him to his home
He wined and dined him as his guest
And only made a small request
• Invited to a ball where he converses with Cardinal
Bellarmin and Barberini
• They ask Galileo how God could have written wrongly
about the Universe
• The Holy Office decides that teachings are futile,
foolish and heretical
 7. A CONVERSATION

Galileo, feeling grim,

A young monk came to visit him
The monk was born of common folk
It was of science that they spoke

• Tells the impact of the discoveries on local people

• Requests Galileo to consider the peace of mind of the
unfortunate
• Galileo convinces him that the truth needs to be told,
to make people think
8. ENTHRONEMENT OF NEW POPE ENCOURAGES GALILEO
TO RESUME HIS RESEARCH
Eight long years with tongue in cheek
Of what he knew he did not speak
Then temptation grew too great
And Galileo challenged fate

• A lot of theories going on around about sun spots,

but Galileo does not comment on them
• Galileo hears from Ludovico about the new pope,
and decides to restart is research
• Ludovico breaks off his engagement
• Galileo decides to write in the language of the people
9. INQUISITION SUMMONS THE WORLD FAMOUS SCHOLAR
TO ROME
The depths are hot, the heights are chill
The streets are loud, the courts are still

• Book is published and met with resistance from

church
• Galileo goes to meet the Grand Duke, but is made to
wait
• Met by Vanni, who praises Galileo’s work, asks him
to flee
• Grand Duke makes small talk, refuses to accept the
book
• Galileo is called for High Inquisition
 10. THE POPE
• Galileo’s charts are popular amongst sailors, his
mathematical tables are proved to be accurate
• Pope refuses to burn the tables
• He says that the charts are based on heretical
assumptions, the teachings cant be condemned and
the charts accepted
• Accepts Galileo is impertinent, asks him to be shown
the instruments
 11. GALILEO RECANTS HIS TEACHINGS

June twenty second, sixteen thirty three

A momentous date for you and me
Of all the dates that was one
An age of reason could have begun
• Galileo’s students discuss his expected fate.
• They pray for him as they are sure that he wont
recant
• However Galileo recants
• Students are disappointed and angry
 12. PRISONER TILL DEATH, WRITES THE DISCORSI

Sixteen hundred and thirty-three till

Sixteen hundred and fourty-two
Galileo Galilei remains a prisoner of the church
Up to the day of his Death

• Kept in house arrest under the supervision of a

monk.
• Visited by Andrea, told him that he’d finished his
book
• Had reproduced the whole book in hiding and gives
it to Andrea
• “Your hands are tainted, we said, - you say: better
tainted than empty”
 STUDY OF THEME
INTEGRITY, FREEDOM AND
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
 Freedom
• the power or right to act , speak, or think as
one wants - Oxford
• the quality or state of being free: as
• the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint
in choice or action
• the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken
• boldness of conception or execution
- Webster
 Relevance to the book
• Freedom was absent in those ages
• His proofs were refused just because
they opposed the existing beliefs
• Couldn’t go against the church inspite
of having truth on his side
 Integrity
• The quality of being honest and having strong
moral principles - Oxford
• Firm adherence to a code of especially moral
or artistic values : incorruptibility - Webster
 Relevance to the book
• Integrity questionable
– Telescope issue
– He recants
• Integrity towards science
– Was honest to his work
– Did everything in his powers to get the
truth accepted
 Social Responsibility
• Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or
theory that an entity, be it
an organization or individual, has an
obligation to act to benefit society at large.
This responsibility can be passive, by avoiding
engaging in socially harmful acts, or active, by
performing activities that directly advance
social goals
 Relevance to the book
• Everything Galileo did can be justified
by social responsibility
– Took the idea of spyglass and made
telescope to probe the universe
– Wrote his book in a simpler language to
reach a larger audience
– Recanted, so that he would be able to
document his learning before dying
ANALYSIS OF PROTAGONIST
• Born
 in Pisa Italy
 to Vincenzo Galilei & Guilia Ammannati
• Enrolled
 For medicine
 at University of Pisa
• Studied
 Mathematics
• Moved
 To University of Padua
 In 1592
 Trait Theory of Leadership

• People are born with inherited traits

• Some traits are particularly suited to leadership
• People who make good leaders have the right combination of
traits
 Trait Theory of Leadership
McCall and Lombardo (1983) researched both success
and failure identified four primary traits by which
leaders could succeed or 'derail'

Emotional Stability Admitting Error Interpersonal Skills Intellectual Breadth

L.E.A.P – From Expert to Leader
 Learn & Teach

Ethics: Everyone’s watching

Attitude Determines Altitude

Pursue Excellence
MYTHOLOGICAL/FICTIONAL
CHARACTERS COMPARISON
ROBIN HOOD
• Escaped law to survive and continue to serve people
• Heaven and stars Vs. Forests (Harsh series of laws, Private
preserve of the king and his officers)
• Public perception s of the outlaw (Popular outlaws)
• Religious beliefs Vs. Evil men
• Tactics (Aristotle’s book at the end) Vs. brutal means with support
• Honorable by the codes of their own times
• Galileo expected people to believe in their common sense Vs.
People’s legends directed/assisted Robin Hood
• Fear in the minds of people Vs. evil men
HOWARD ROARK & ATTICUS
FINCH
Galileo: Thinking is one of the greatest pleasures of the human race
Roark: Man cannot survive except through his mind

Henry Cameron and Roark Vs. Copernicus and Galileo

Collective wisdom Vs. Individualism -> Integrity and Persistence

Atticus Finch – Model of integrity for lawyers

- Defending Tom Robinson, black man accused of raping a young white woman
- Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him
- Themes – Racial injustice and the destruction of innocence Vs. integrity,
social responsibility and freedom
COMPARISON WITH MODERN
LEADER
 Galileo Galilei vs Steve Job
Father of Modern Science CEO of the Decade

Italian physicist, mathematician, Idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley

astronomer and philosopher who played a entrepreneur who is either inventor or co-
major role in the Scientific Revolution inventor in over of 230 awarded patents
Belief in freedom
Continued to test his theory and Board members voted on removal of
hypothesis irrespective of acceptance of Steve Job and he went about opening
the idea new company – NEXT
Created value for society
Telescope and Theory of Kinematics : Birth Revolutionary Idea
of Modern Science Apple Products: Macintosh, ipod, itunes
Other players followed the suit
Passionate
Galileo was passionate about Passion for technology and development
mathematics and astronomy. His father of products that are both functional and
wanted him to study medicine. elegant
Galileo taught Math for 18 years in Univ.
of Padua
RELEVANCE OF THEME
Renaissance needed in Economic
System
One theory or philosophy becomes hurdle for another

• Anarchy
• Fascism Belief
• Socialism
Doubt
• Communism
• Capitalism

“ For where belief has prevailed for a thousand years, doubt

now prevails”

“Overnight the universe has lost its center, and by the

morning it has countless ones”
 Funding research
• Distinction between basic research and
applied research
– “Value to commerce vs. Value to
philosophy”
• Mathematics and other basic research
are profitless – who has to drive them?
• Time for innovating and thinking
– Busy schedule – Mechanization of human
being
– Google’s 80:20 rule
 Simple & Lucid Communication
• Writes his astronomical works, not in Latin,
but the language of the fishwives and wool
merchants
• Science for everyone - TED
• Complex laws and corporate communication
– Disasters
– Resource wastage
• Science rely on the commonsense of mankind
• Power of Reason & Commonsense
– Only the dead are no longer moved by reason
– Thinking as one of the greatest pleasures of
human race
 Should science care about
implication?
• “Your cry of jubilation over some new
achievement may be answered by a
universal cry of horror”
– Atom Bomb
– Computer Virus
– Esoteric Financial instruments
• “Like the Hippocratic oath of the doctors,
the vow to devote their knowledge wholly to
the benefit of mankind”
Science-Society Relationship

Science

Regulators
(Technology
forecasting and
Assessment)

Society
Specialization to promote…….

Science Engineering

Technology
 Stay Hungary Stay Foolish
• No hugging the coast
• Helplessness – Indifference
• Nothing moves which isn’t moved

God Hope

Problem
Science Prosperity Hope
Solving
 Some lines to ponder upon
“He who does not know the truth is
merely an idiot. But he who knows it
and calls it a lie, is a criminal”

“Concealing truth from the enemy”

“Unhappy the land that has no

heroes”

“Unhappy the land that is in need of

heroes”
THANK YOU !!!