Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was the foremost scientist of his day, the man Albert Einstein was to call "the father of modern physics - indeed of modern science altogether". Though he never left the Italy of his birth, his inventions and discoveries were heralded around the world. His telescopes allowed him to reveal a new reality in the heavens and to publicly propound the astounding argument that the earth actually moves around the Sun. For this belief he was brought before the Holy Office of the Inquisition, tried for heresy and threatened with torture.
In contrast, his daughter, Virginia, became a cloistered nun. Born in 1600, she was thirteen when Galileo placed her in a convent near him in Florence. Galileo later said of her that she had an exquisite mind, and her intelligence and loving support proved to be her father's greatest source of strength through his most difficult years.
Inspired by her long fascination with Galileo and by the remarkable surviving letters of his daughter which she has translated into English for the first time, Dava Sobel has written a book that brings Galileo to life as never before. A man who was compelled to explain the truths he discovered, he was a faithful Catholic devoted to family and, especially, to his daughter.
