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The Starry Messenger
A Library of Congress Rare Book Forum
Friday, November 5, 2010
9:30 am- 5:00 pm
The Mumford Room
Sixth floor, James Madison Building
The Library of Congress
On November 5th, 2010, the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of
Congress will sponsor a day-long conference to celebrate its recent acquisition of
Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius, first published 400 years ago. The "Starry
Messenger" contains the first telescopic images of the moon, diagrams showing the
location and motion of the moons of Jupiter, and the first telescopic celestial maps of
the Milky Way. Revolutionary not only in its findings and observations, the book also
influenced later scientific and cartographic representations of celestial objects.
The conference will approach the book from a variety of disciplinary
standpoints and present new research on the book itself. Galileo's lasting
influence on scientific representation and the beginnings of modern
astronomical representation will be addressed. Speakers will cover a variety
of themes found in the work, including the printing and construction of the
book and early scientific celestial representation (Needham); the use of the
telescope (Reeves); Galileo's logical methodologies and his debt to his
classical and medieval predecessors (Hessler); his representations and maps of
the Milky Way (Gingerich); and Galileo's lasting influence on scientific
methodology and empiricism (Miller and Machamer). The speakers are:
Paul Needham (Scheide Librarian, Princeton University)
Eileen Reeves (Professor of Renaissance Literature, Princeton University)
David Miller (Visiting Professor in the Philosophy of Science, Duke University)
Owen Gingerich (Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science, Harvard
University)
John Hessler (Senior Cartographic Librarian, Geography and Map Division,
Library of Congress)
Peter Machamer (Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science, University
of Pittsburgh)
The conference is free and is open to the public. More details will be
available in the coming weeks.
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