Mario Livio, 'Galileo: And the Science Deniers'

Astrophysicist and bestselling author Mario Livio draws on his own scientific expertise to provide captivating insights into how Galileo reached his bold new conclusions about the cosmos and the laws of nature. A freethinker who followed the evidence wherever it led him, Galileo was one of the most significant figures behind the scientific revolution. He believed that every educated person should know science as well as literature, and insisted on reaching the widest audience possible, publishing his books in Italian rather than Latin.

[GLORYNEVADASMITH]

We still have Science Deniers : COVID-19 hysteria ; Unfettered capitalism ; The war on drugs ; and on and on .

[juliussimo]

I really like the part near 40:00. Emotionalism and aestheticism in science are not addressed enough in the scientific community. Between the lines of obscure and objective scientific writing, how can we extract highly concise logic flows, orderliness, and beauty that every human being can empathize with?

[jorgecortesnunez]

Livio's latest book is superb. It should be read by everyone. What Galileo went through is similar to what is happening today with the science community, with the science deniers.

[jeffreyzimler]

C.S. Lewis warned about in his writings about scientism and how the use of language in the post modern era which Lewis himself saw teaching English has parallels but serves as a warning when government fueled campaigns not just with Covid 19 but before that the idea in early 1980s that we were entering a Ice Age which a young Leonard Nimoy himself purported back in 1979. Livio is a fantastic scholar and i love his interviews on Closer To Truth.

[susanmcdonald]

Dr. Steven Goldman, philosopher of science, physics major. On YouTube, "What Scientists Know & How They Know It" lecture. Historians, not scientists, need to interpret the historical record. There's good reason for Galileo's inability to "prove" it, a hallmark of science. The church simply asked him to use his heliocentric model as a tool, not absolute truth. It was UNPROVEN until Kepler contributed (not circular orbits) and finally Newton. It's that simple. Galileo wrote profusely but they were persuasive arguments, not scientific proof. He's still a hero, a genius, and was proved right, but his science astronomically worked no better than the Ptolemaic system. That's a fact. His motion mathematics were the real contributory breakthrough! To use this as denial of science is a bit of a stretch, although the political implications, I am totally on board! But as a historian, I realize it's misuse, is not helpful, or at the least, not honest. If a historian tackled maths, or physics, well, you see the problem. Politicizing history, shaky ground. Hegel & Marx did it with economic history, & as important as interpretation is in history, it can quickly become the terror of history.

[juless]

To be a great scientist, you don't just need a scientific education, you also need an artistic education.