Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Galileo had a Daughter?!

Although we acknowledge Galileo, most of us have never heard about the daughter, Maria. Yes, Galileo had a daughter and she is who we owe for the knowledge of motion and other concepts that Galileo had formulated. Sister Maria fulfilled the typical daughter's role and even more. She cooked, did his laundry, and even made his medicine. Without her medication, he probably would have died at an early age and never would have been able to accomplish the concepts we credit him for today. During the Bubonic Plague, she even meshed herbs together and made them a pill utilizing honey as edible glue to protect her father from the sickness. Even when the inquisition summoned him, she persuaded him to confess and just say what the Church wants. This saved him from imprisonment but he was put under house arrest where he spent his time measuring motion. Without her, even if Galileo was able to discover, document, and make conclusions, he would have never been able to publish his books. She had little education but was a humble reader of Galileo's doctrines. She helped make comments, took things out and put other things in. She was Galileo's editor.

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