Fortunately my local library has a copy of the text cited at the above reference to this G.A. Magnini. I've made a note to myself to check into it when I return some books next week, and I'll get back to you on whether it provides any further insight on his character and rationale.
Well, we've pretty much gone through the Boeing series. I wonder what's next?
"The results of [Galileo's experiments] shocked the sensibilities of contemporary scholars. Galileo's experimental methods were entirely foreign to scientists of his day and were regarded by most of his colleagues as undesirable if not dangerous innovations. Accordingly, the results derived in this fashion were also suspect.Today it's Behe's publications that shock the sensibilities of public education. The Darwinian approach to understanding how the universe ticks is on the wane. Wonder what Galileo would think of those who assert that man is the culmination of wholly natural processes lacking either intelligence or design."These studies which upset Aristotelian physicists, as well as Galileo's habit of getting into trouble with persons who did not agree with him, made Galileo far from popular with the faculty at Pisa. Either on this account or on account of his father's death in 1591, Galileo resigned his teaching post at the University several months before it was due to expire and returned to his mother's home in Florence."
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"Galileo . . . was prone to sharply criticize unsubstantiated statements and theories unsupported by observation."
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Carl J. Wenning, Coordinator
Physics Teacher Education Program
Illinois State University