Mario Livio

"Galileo and the Science Deniers"

ABSTRACT -- Galileo Galilei is one of those larger-than-life heroes of our intellectual history. There aren't many scientists, after all, whose lives and achievements inspired plays (such as Brecht's Life of Galileo), scores of poems, or an opera (by Philip Glass). For Albert Einstein, Galileo was "the father of modern physics—indeed, of modern science altogether."

I will trace Galileo's fascinating life as I will examine his monumental achievements in astronomy, mechanics, and the development of the scientific method. I will also analyze his complex and tragic interaction with the Catholic Church, which had eventually led to Galileo being denounced a suspected heretic by the Inquisition.

I will emphasize Galileo's relevance to a world in which anti-science attitudes have proliferated, and where there is a widening schism between the humanities and the sciences. Galileo's life serves as a potent reminder of the importance of freedom of thought.

SPEAKER -- Dr. Mario Livio is an astrophysicist, a best-selling author, and a popular speaker. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published more than 500 scientific papers on topics ranging from Dark Energy and cosmology to black holes, extrasolar planets, and life in the universe.

He is also the author of seven popular science books, including The Golden Ratio (an International Bestseller for which he received the "Peano Prize" and the "International Pythagoras Prize") and Is God A Mathematician? (that was the basis for the 2016 Emmy-nominated NOVA program "The Great Math Mystery").

His latest book, Galileo and the Science Deniers, was selected by the Washington Post and by Science News as one of the best books of 2020.

Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov