Remembering Galileo

400 years ago today, on August 25, 1609, the famed astronomer Galileo Galilei presented a novel instrument to the merchants in Venice: a telescope far more powerful and accurate than the few crude models floating around Europe at the time. Can you imagine what those merchants must have thought? “I can’t wait to go home and spy on the girl next door…”
Regardless of what the Venetians thought at the time, when Galileo finally pointed it at the heavens, his new instrument was going to revolutionize man’s view of the universe… and also land poor Galileo in hot water. In January 2010, you’ll have a chance to see things through Galileo’s eyes when Spectra publishes Galileo’s Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson. In the novel, Robinson melds Galileo’s life with the colonization of the moons he discovered.
We’ll be doing a giveaway of the galley in the next couple weeks. So check back for more details.