There's Hope For Us Yet
November 24th 2009 21:21
There was a news report, on November 20, concerning two fingers and a tooth from 17th century astronomer Galileo Galilei that had been recovered. It seems that a Mr. Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti amputated the recovered right forefinger and thumb (which presumably held the pen that Galileo wrote down all of his scientific discoveries with) along with a tooth, the middle finger of the right hand and the fifth lumbar vertebra when, in 1737, Galileo’s body was moved from an unconsecrated grave to a mausoleum in the Florentine church of Santa Croce. The forefinger, thumb and tooth had been missing since the move.
Galileo’s problems began after 1610 when he became a vocal proponent of the heliocentric view that the sun was at the center of the planetary system, not the earth. This met with strong opposition from philosophers and the Catholic hierarchy, and two clerics denounced him to the Roman Inquisition in 1615. He was cleared of all offenses, but the Church denounced heliocentrism in 1616, warning Galileo not to support it; he promised to give up his views. But, in 1632, he published “Dialog Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,” which the Inquisition found to be subversive and heretic, and Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died in 1642.
This makes the discovery of the lost fingers all the more interesting. The right middle finger has been reposing at the Institute and Museum of History of Science in Florence. Unnamed sources say that when the middle finger, fore finger and thumb were re-fitted on to the shriveled right hand, the unmistakable flipping of the bird sign was evident. It seems that, not only was Galileo the father of astronomy, the father of physics and the father of mathematics (and the father of three illegitimate children), he was the father of flipping the bird as this is the earliest scientifically confirmed case of this behavior. We now have proof that flipping the bird is indeed of Italian origin, and Italians and all those of Italian ancestry can take pride in this significant discovery.
So, who was the recipient of Galileo’s deathbed flip? It probably wasn’t the local priest; Galileo was buried in unconsecrated ground because he was branded a heretic, so there probably was no priest to attend to his death. My guess is that he knew that rigor mortis would preserve his last flip, so he most likely intended it for Pope Urban VIII, the Pope who approved his banishment. Since Urban VIII didn’t attend Galileo’s death or internment, he never knew of this insult (what good is an insult if the recipient doesn’t know of it?).
Which brings us to our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in America: the Pittsburgh City Council gave approval to pay $50,000 to a man who was arrested for displaying one of his middle fingers to a Pittsburgh police officer. It seems that a Mr. David Hackbart gave a driver the view of one of his middle fingers when the driver yelled at him, not realizing that the driver was a police officer. Mr. Hackbart was arrested, but he later sued in Federal Court claiming that flipping the bird was protected by the first amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to display their middle finger.” Pittsburgh is willing to pay Mr. Hackbart the $50K rather than contest the suit in court; their attorneys probably agree with Mr. Hackbart, and may have used the same gesture at times. Sources claim that everyone in court, when the settlement was announced, flipped the bird at everyone else.
And to think, if it wasn’t for Galileo, people would have to use other means of expressing their anger and frustration, like guns. We can thank Galileo for the reduction in the murder rate in this country, along with his other minor accomplishments in astronomy, physics and mathematics.
Galileo’s problems began after 1610 when he became a vocal proponent of the heliocentric view that the sun was at the center of the planetary system, not the earth. This met with strong opposition from philosophers and the Catholic hierarchy, and two clerics denounced him to the Roman Inquisition in 1615. He was cleared of all offenses, but the Church denounced heliocentrism in 1616, warning Galileo not to support it; he promised to give up his views. But, in 1632, he published “Dialog Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,” which the Inquisition found to be subversive and heretic, and Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died in 1642.
This makes the discovery of the lost fingers all the more interesting. The right middle finger has been reposing at the Institute and Museum of History of Science in Florence. Unnamed sources say that when the middle finger, fore finger and thumb were re-fitted on to the shriveled right hand, the unmistakable flipping of the bird sign was evident. It seems that, not only was Galileo the father of astronomy, the father of physics and the father of mathematics (and the father of three illegitimate children), he was the father of flipping the bird as this is the earliest scientifically confirmed case of this behavior. We now have proof that flipping the bird is indeed of Italian origin, and Italians and all those of Italian ancestry can take pride in this significant discovery.
So, who was the recipient of Galileo’s deathbed flip? It probably wasn’t the local priest; Galileo was buried in unconsecrated ground because he was branded a heretic, so there probably was no priest to attend to his death. My guess is that he knew that rigor mortis would preserve his last flip, so he most likely intended it for Pope Urban VIII, the Pope who approved his banishment. Since Urban VIII didn’t attend Galileo’s death or internment, he never knew of this insult (what good is an insult if the recipient doesn’t know of it?).
Which brings us to our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in America: the Pittsburgh City Council gave approval to pay $50,000 to a man who was arrested for displaying one of his middle fingers to a Pittsburgh police officer. It seems that a Mr. David Hackbart gave a driver the view of one of his middle fingers when the driver yelled at him, not realizing that the driver was a police officer. Mr. Hackbart was arrested, but he later sued in Federal Court claiming that flipping the bird was protected by the first amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to display their middle finger.” Pittsburgh is willing to pay Mr. Hackbart the $50K rather than contest the suit in court; their attorneys probably agree with Mr. Hackbart, and may have used the same gesture at times. Sources claim that everyone in court, when the settlement was announced, flipped the bird at everyone else.
And to think, if it wasn’t for Galileo, people would have to use other means of expressing their anger and frustration, like guns. We can thank Galileo for the reduction in the murder rate in this country, along with his other minor accomplishments in astronomy, physics and mathematics.
| 11 |
| Vote |
Add Comments
Read More
