Galileo's Daughter - by Dava Sobel (Paperback)

About the Book

Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo and the remarkable surviving letters of his daughter, Sobel, a cloistered nun, dramatically reinterprets the personality and accomplishment of a mythic figure whose seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion.

Book Synopsis

Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of his daughter Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun, Dava Sobel has crafted a biography that dramatically recolors the personality and accomplishments of a mythic figure whose early-seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion-the man Albert Einstein called "the father of modern physics-indeed of modern science altogether." It is also a stunning portrait of Galileo's daughter, a person hitherto lost to history, described by her father as "a woman of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and most tenderly attached to me."

Moving between Galileo's grand public life and Maria Celeste's sequestered world, Sobel illuminates the Florence of the Medicis and the papal court in Rome during the pivotal era when humanity's perception of its place in the cosmos was about to be overturned. During that same time, while the bubonic plague wreaked its terrible devastation and the Thirty Years' War tipped fortunes across Europe, Galileo sought to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed through his telescope. Filled with human drama and scientific adventure, Galileo's Daughter is an unforgettable story.

Praise for Galileo's Daughter:

"[Sobel] shows herself a virtuoso at encapsulating the history and the politics of science. Her descriptions of Galileo's ideas...are pithy, vivid, and intelligible."-Wall Street Journal

Review Quotes

"Sobel is a master storyteller.... What she has done, with her choice of excerpts and her strong sense of story, is bring a great scientist to life." --Alan Lightman, New York Times

"[Sobel] shows herself a virtuoso at encapsulating the history and the politics of science. Her descriptions of Galileo's ideas... are pithy, vivid, and intelligible." --Wall Street Journal

"Sobel does wonders clearly explaining scientific principles... [She] is a most original writer, with a reverence for history and storytelling." --USA Today

"Galileo's Daughter is a remarkable work for the beauty of the writing and the clarity of the time and relationships it creates. Sobel pays close attention to fine detail, resulting in a work that feels real." --Denver Post

"Sobel seamlessly recounts history as wonderful narrative filled with outsized characters all marching toward a booming climax." --San Diego Union Tribune

About the Author

Dava Sobel is an award-winning science writer and the internationally bestselling author of Longitude and The Planets. Longitude has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide. She is co-author of The Illustrated Longitude. She lives in East Hampton, New York.