Stillman Drake

Stillman Drake ( * December 24, 1910; † 6 October 1993) was a Canadian historian of science, who is known primarily as a researcher on Galileo Galilei. He has published more than 131 books, articles and book chapters on him and re-edited works by Galileo.

In 1967 he became a professor at the University of Toronto, where he remained as a science historian for the rest of his career. Before that, he was not at the university but financial advisors, translations had during this time but already published by Galileo's works.

When Galileo - researcher, he is known primarily for the reconstruction of Galileo's experiments. He went so views as those of the well-known historian of science Alexandre Koyré contrary, Galileo had acted mainly theoretically, the experiments mentioned by Galileo in his books would therefore have been mostly thought experiments.

In 1988 he was awarded the George Sarton Medal.

His collection of Galileana is in the Thomas J. Fischer Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto.

Writings (selection )

  • As a translator and editor: Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic & Copernican. Foreword by Albert Einstein. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, etc. 1953.
  • As a translator and editor: Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo. Doubleday & Company, New York NY, 1957 ( selection from Galileo's writings ).
  • As editor with Charles O'Malley: The Controversy on the Comets of 1618, Galileo Galilei, Horatio Grassi, Mario Guiducci, Johann Kepler.. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA in 1960.
  • As a translator: Galileo: The Assayer. In: Stillman Drake, Charles D. O'Malley (Ed.): The Controversy on the Comets of 1618, Galileo Galilei, Horatio Grassi, Mario Guiducci, Johann Kepler.. Introduction, Translations, and Notes by. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA 1960, pp. 151-336.
  • As a translator and editor with Israel E. Drabkin: Mechanics in Sixteenth - Century Italy. Selections from Tartaglia, Benedetti, Guido Ubaldo, and Galileo ( = Publications in Medieval Science. Vol. 13). University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, inter alia, 1969, ISBN 0-299-05100-5.
  • Galileo 's Discovery of the Laws of Free Fall. In: Scientific American. Vol 228, No. 5, May 1973, pp. 84-92, doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0573-84.
  • As a translator and editor: Galileo: Two New Sciences. Including Centers of Gravity & Force of Percussion. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1974, ISBN 0-299-06404-2.
  • James MacLachlan: Galileo 's Discovery of the Parabolic Trajectory. In: Scientific American. Vol 232, No. 3, March 1975, pp. 102-110, doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0375-102.
  • Newton 's Apple and Galileo 's Dialogue. In: Scientific American. Vol 243, No. 2, August 1980, p 150-156, doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0880-150.
  • With Charles Thomas Kowal: Galileo 's Sighting of Neptune. In: Scientific American. Vol 243, No. 6, December 1980, pp. 74-81, doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican1280-74.
  • Galileo. Pioneer Scientist. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, among other things, 1990, ISBN 0-8020-2725-3.
October 6 Giambattista Benedetti Guidobaldo del Monte Digital Object Identifier Noel Swerdlow Isis (journal) Name Authority File
749793
de