Institute of Contemporary History

In the spring of 1610 Galileo Galilei published a small work, The Starry Messenger, dedicated to the Florentine Duke Cosimo II. Medici, in which he was the first to describe the observation of the sky with a telescope and announced the discovery of Jupiter’s moons. He also sent a copy to Johannes Kepler, who soon sent Galileo a lengthy letter praising his discoveries and published his review under the title Discourse with the Starry Messenger. Both of these slim volumes, which entered significantly into the contemporary debate on cosmological organization and which are also a fine example of Renaissance stylistics, are among the most important astronomical works of all time. The book presents their translation together with an insightful commentary that illuminates the essence of Galileo’s discoveries as well as their contemporary context.

HADRAVOVÁ, Alena – HADRAVA, Petr: Galileo Galilei – Johannes Kepler, Hvězdný posel – Rozprava s Hvězdným poslem. Příbram: Pistorius a Olšanská 2022. 208 stran. ISBN 978-80-7579-154-2, e-kniha: ISBN 978-80-87855-72-0 (PDF)

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