The Scientific Revolution
The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was written by Galileo Galilei in Florence, Italy in 1632, in the age of the Scientific Revolution. The great flowering of science occurred in Western Europe from 1543 (publication of Copernicus model) to 1687 (Newton’s Principia)7. The period of Scientific Revolution was characterized by the growing flood of information, starting from the printing revolution in the 14th century. With the introduction of the movable type and replica casting, easier access to printing becomes a crucial factor in the surviving of the banned book The Dialogue. While previously books were limited to the wealthy, the invention of printing press allowed easier access of information to the public. As a result, The Dialogue is not limited to only targeting the society of natural philosophers, but also the general public, further fostering the circulation of information.
Faster spread of knowledge also stressed natural philosophers to be certain of their discoveries, backed up with independent and critical evidence. The development of an experimental and scientific method began to challenge traditional Aristotelian views that had dominated science for almost the past 2,000 years, and the quick distribution of information began to challenge the rigid power structure7.
Galileo was not the first one to propose the heliocentric model. In 1543, Copernicus published his comprehensive theory of the heliocentric model. He relied on the same data as Ptolemy possessed and led to overthrow traditional astronomy because of its violation of the principle of uniform circular motion7.
Even though Galileo did not invent the telescope, he was the first one to scientifically and methodically observe celestial objects and record his discoveries. Galileo’s key findings of the orbits of the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus account for key supporting observations for the Copernican theory2. Even though these observations did not conclusively prove heliocentrism, but they provided new evidence supporting Copernicus’ theory and refuted some old objections 2.