Galileo's legacy: a critical edition and translation of the manuscript of Vincenzo Viviani's Grati Animi Monumenta.
Having been found 'vehemently suspected of heresy' by the Holy Office in 1633, at the time of his death (1642) Galileo's remains were laid to rest in the tiny vestry of a lateral chapel of the Santa Croce Basilica, Florence. Throughout his life, Vincenzo Viviani, Galileo's last disciple, struggled to have his master's name rehabilitated and his banned works reprinted, as well as a proper funeral monument erected. He did not live to see all this come true, but his efforts triggered a mechanism that eventually led to the fulfilment of his wishes. A key element of his project was the transformation of the facade of his palace into a private (but publicly rendered) tribute to Galileo, with two long inscriptions celebrating Galileo's achievements and calling Florence's attention to the need to pay a proper tribute to him. Shortly afterwards, he revised the text and circulated it in print. This article presents the first critical edition and annotated translation of Viviani's original manuscript, long thought to be lost, and describes its role in Viviani's lifelong struggle for Galileo's intellectual legacy, as well as its impact on future historiography.
In the wake of Galileo
Michael Segre's elegant survey of Galileo takes a close look at the myths that have grown up around this figure of genius. Segre assesses Galileo's place in the scientific, cultural, and political communities of post-Renaissance Italy: What role did scientific experiments really play in Galileo's science? What scientific and philosophical questions did he leave unresolved for his followers to grapple with? How did his followers--scientists like Borelli and Torricelli--deal with Galileo's overshadowing presence after his death? How did Galileo's political and religious confrontations affect the course of science? Segre's portrait of Galileo and science in the generation that followed him is accessible and stimulating to the general reader, the student, and the professional historian of science alike.
Turbulent boundary layer wall‐pressure fluctuations downstream from an abrupt change in surface roughness
Spectra of wall‐pressure fluctuations beneath a turbulent boundary layer have been investigated immediately downstream from an abrupt change in surface roughness, from slightly rough to very rough. Over the measurable frequency band (400 Hz to 7 kHz), the spectra in the first 150 mm scale on wall variables. This indicates that the motions responsible for the pressure fluctuations measured in this region are very close to the wall. Farther downstream this scaling procedure breaks down. It is suggested that the initially thin internal layer behaves independently of the flow external to it until it has grown appreciably and only then interacts with the outer boundary layer. It was found that, for all frequencies measured, the dimensional spectral level decreases initially then rises to a maximum at 250 mm from the roughness change before decreasing once more. The position of the maximum is close to where the internal layer ceases to have a distinct edge.