伽利略提出反對「地心說」的那封信,找到了

圖片來源：De Agostini

近日，科學家公布了對伽利略信件的新研究。在最初的一封信中，伽利略首次提出了反對教會關於太陽繞地球運行的學說。科學家在英國倫敦填錯日期的圖書館目錄中發現了這封信。它揭示了1633年導致這位天文學家被譴責存在異端邪說的傳奇故事的關鍵細節。

這封長達7頁的信是伽利略在1613年12月21日寫給朋友的，署名為「G.G.」，提供了迄今為止最有力的證據，表明伽利略在與宗教當局的戰鬥開始時，曾試圖淡化自己的主張。

後來，這封信被複製了很多份，有兩種不同的版本。但由於原信被認為已遺失，因此尚不清楚憤怒的牧師是否篡改了這封信，以凸顯伽利略的異端邪說，或者是伽利略寫了一封措辭強硬的信，但之後又決定放緩語氣。

看起來是伽利略又進行了編輯。這封新發現的信中有修改痕跡，筆跡分析表明是伽利略寫的。他將經過編輯的版本發給朋友，並敦促後者把它送到梵蒂岡。這封信已經被英國皇家學會持有至少250年了，但沒有引起歷史學家的注意。直到義大利貝加莫大學博士後、科學史學家Salvatore Ricciardo於今年8月2日在圖書館裡重新將其發現。

Ricciardo說：「我真不敢相信自己發現了這封信，幾乎所有的伽利略學者都認為這封信丟失了。更令人難以置信的是，這封信不是放在一個不起眼的圖書館裡，而是在皇家學會圖書館。」

於是，Ricciardo和導師Franco Giudice以及義大利卡利亞裡大學科學史學家Michele Camerota，在皇家學會期刊《筆記與記錄》上發表文章描述了這封信的細節和含義。

英國牛津大學科學史學家、天文學歷史學會會長Allan Chapman表示：「它非常有價值，能讓人們對這個關鍵時期有新的見解。」

作者也對自己的發現感到震驚。「伽利略寫的（這封）信是關於科學自由的最早的世俗宣言之一，這是我一生中第一次參與如此令人激動的發現。」Giudice說。（魯亦）

《自然》相關報導（英文）

It had been hiding in plain sight. The original letter — long thought lost — in which Galileo Galilei first set down his arguments against the church’s doctrine that the Sun orbits the Earth has been discovered in a misdated library catalogue in London. Its unearthing and analysis expose critical new details about the saga that led to the astronomer’s condemnation for heresy in 1633.

The seven-page letter, written to a friend on 21 December 1613 and signed 「G.G.」, provides the strongest evidence yet that, at the start of his battle with the religious authorities, Galileo actively engaged in damage control and tried to spread a toned-down version of his claims.

Many copies of the letter were made, and two differing versions exist — one that was sent to the Inquisition in Rome and another with less inflammatory language. But because the original letter was assumed to be lost, it wasn’t clear whether incensed clergymen had doctored the letter to strengthen their case for heresy — something Galileo complained about to friends — or whether Galileo wrote the strong version, then decided to soften his own words.

Galileo did the editing, it seems. The newly unearthed letter is dotted with scorings-out and amendments — and handwriting analysis suggests that Galileo wrote it. He shared a copy of this softened version with a friend, claiming it was his original, and urged him to send it to the Vatican.

The letter has been in the Royal Society’s possession for at least 250 years, but escaped the notice of historians. It was rediscovered in the library there by Salvatore Ricciardo, a postdoctoral science historian at the University of Bergamo in Italy, who visited on 2 August for a different purpose, and then browsed the online catalogue.

「I thought, 『I can’t believe that I have discovered the letter that virtually all Galileo scholars thought to be hopelessly lost,』」 says Ricciardo. 「It seemed even more incredible because the letter was not in an obscure library, but in the Royal Society library.」

Ricciardo, together with his supervisor Franco Giudice at the University of Bergamo and science historian Michele Camerota of the University of Cagliari, describe the letter’s details and implications in an article in press at the Royal Society journalNotes and Records. Some science historians declined to comment on the finding before they had scrutinized the article. But Allan Chapman, a science historian at the University of Oxford, UK, and president of the Society for the History of Astronomy, says 「it’s so valuable — it will allow new insights into this critical period」.

本文來源：《中國科學報》 (2018-09-27 第3版 國際), Nature

轉自：雙一流高校（ID:gaoxiaoxuebao）