Galileo: A Dialog on Science, Mathematics, History and Drama

Galileo Galilei, the renowned Italian scientist who lived from 1564-1642, would probably have turned off this turgid panel discussion to go gaze at the skies or measure the rate of falling objects (as opposed to simply falling asleep). In fact, while watching this radio-program-which-drifted-onto-the-wrong-format, I found it to be a true test of my twitching index finger which was poised over the fast-forward button ready to strike, except that I wanted to see what weird camera angle, shooting mistake, or random cutaway would appear next. A quick summary: In October, 1999, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute presented an evening lecture featuring three men of varying backgrounds: Coyne, an astronomer/priest; Osserman, a math professor & MSRI projects director; and Winters, a professional actor who has portrayed Galileo in theatre. These three engage in a 45-minute discussion of various topics that are only tenuously connected, such as the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems, interpretation of the Scriptures, and what the Unabomber and Galileo have in common. The final 20 minutes consist of an occasionally confusing question and answer session with members of the audience. I've no doubt that attending the event in person was delightful, and suspect that even hearing it on cassette might be edifying (although the presentation was still rather scattered). However, watching various (sometimes bad) shots of three (sometimes poorly recorded) talking torsos/heads for over an hour is like boarding a train bound for Fidget City. To make matters worse, a knowledge of Galileo's life and work, as well as that of his predecessors, is assumed. All in all, this is a very optional purchase. Less rarefied audiences might wish, instead, to read Dava Sobel's entertaining biography written for the layperson, Galileo's Daughter. Aud: C, P. (E. Gieschen)