Galileo, Measurement of the Velocity of Light, and the Reaction Times
Abstract
According to the commonly accepted view, Galileo Galilei devised in 1638 an experiment that seemed able to show that the velocity of light is finite. An analysis of archival material shows that two decades later members of the Florence scientific society Accademia del Cimento followed Galileo guidelines by actually attempting to measure the velocity of light and suggesting improvements. This analysis also reveals a fundamental difference between Galileo's and Florence academy's methodologies and that Galileo's experiment was, in some respects, a pioneering work affecting also the history of the psychology of perception.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
References
Baker D G, Baker-Blocker A, 1986 “Visual observation of lightning propagation” Nature 322 215.
Beretta M, 2000 “At the source of western science: The organization of experimentalism at the Academia del Cimento (1657–1667)” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 54 131–151.
Borelli A, 1657 Letter to Leopoldo de Medici (April 14th), in Galilean Manuscripts, Posteriori T.16, Fondo Palatino 275, Folio 65 BCNF.
Boring E G, 1950 A History of Experimental Psychology (New York: Appleton–Century–Crofts).
Boschiero L, 2005 “Post-Galilean thought and experiment in seventeenth-century Italy: The life and work of Vincenzo Viviani” History of Science 43 77–100.
Boyer C B, 1941 “Early estimates of the velocity of light” Isis 33 24–40.
Bozzi P, 1995 “Osservazione e percezione. (Velocità della luce ed effetto y)”, in Galileo e la scienza sperimentale Ed. Ceolin M Baldo (Padua: Dipartimento di Fisica “Galileo Galilei”) pp 112–118.
Brantley R D, Tiller J A, Uman M A, 1975 “Lightning properties in Florida thunderstorms from video tape records” Journal of Geophysical Research 80 3402–3406.
Brook M, Vonnegut B, 1960 “Visual confirmation of the junction process in lightning discharge” Journal of Geophysical Research 65 1302–1303.
Cahan D, 1994 Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-century Science (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).
Cohen I B, 1940 “Roemer and the first determination of the velocity of light” Isis 31 327–379.
Crombie A C, 1972 “The primary properties and secondary qualities in Galileo Galilei's natural philosophy”, in Saggi su Galileo Galilei Ed. Maccagni C, (Florence: Barbera) pp 71–91.
Debru C, 2001 “Helmholtz and the psychophysiology of time” Science in Context 14 471–492.
D'Abbadie A, 1887 “Lightning-flashes” Nature 35 342.
Drake S, 1986 “Galileo's physical measurements” American Journal of Physics 54 302–306.
Fabroni A, (Ed.) 1775 Lettere inedite di uomini illustri Tomo 2 (Florence: Moücke).
Finger S, Wade N, 2002 “The neuroscience of Helmholtz and the theories of Johannes Müller: Part 1: Nerve cell structure, vitalism, and the nerve impulse” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 11 136–155.
Fizeau H L, 1849 “Sur une expérience relative à la vitesse de propagation de la lumière” Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris 29 90–92.
Galilei G, 1623/1957 Il Saggiatore, nel quale con bilancia esquisita e giusta … (Rome: Mascardi, 1623). English translation by Drake S, in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo (New York: Doubleday, 1957).
Galilei G, 1632/1969 Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico e copernicano (Florence: Landini). English translation by Drake S, in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican 2nd edition (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1967).
Galilei G, 1638/1974 Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze … (Leiden: appresso gli Elsevirii). English translation by Drake S, in Two New Sciences (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1974).
Giovannozzi G, 1926–1927 “Una lettera di Francesco Famiano Nichelini a Giovanni Alfonso Borelli” Atti della Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze 80 315–319.
Kenkel F, 1913 “Untersuchungen über den Zusammenhang zwischen Erscheinungsgröβe und Erscheinungsbewegung bei einigen sogenannten optischen Täuschungen” Zeitschrift für Psychologie 67 358–449.
Krider E P, 1974 “An unusual photograph of an air lightning discharge” Weather 29 24–27.
Mach E, 1898/1986 Popular Scientific Lectures (La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1986).
Magalotti L, 1667/1684 Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell'Accademia del Cimento (Florence: Cocchini). English translation by Waller R, in Essayes of Natural Experiments made in the Academie del Cimento (London: Benjamin Alsop, 1684).
Magalotti L, Viviani L, no date, Galilean Manuscripts, Posteriori T.9 Cimento. Fisica Sperimentale volume 9 Memorie e spoglio di esperienze. Fondo Palatino 268, Folio 167r-172r BCNF.
Martinez J A, 1974 “Galileo on primary and secondary qualities” Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences 10 160–169.
Meyer D E, Osman A M, Irwin D E, Yantis S, 1988 “Modern mental chronometry” Biological Psychology 26 3–67.
Middleton W E K, 1971 The Experimenters: A Study of the Accademia del Cimento (Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins Press).
Middleton W E K, (Ed.) 1980 Lorenzo Magalotti at the Court of Charles II (Waterloo, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press).
Mollon J D, Perkins A J, 1996 “Errors of judgment at Greenwich in 1796” Nature 380 101–102.
Piccolino M, Wade N J, 2008 “Galileo's eye: A new vision of the senses in the work of Galileo Galilei” Perception 37 1312–1340.
Rinaldini C, no date, Galilean Manuscripts, Posteriori T.9 Cimento. Fisica Sperimentale volume 9 Memorie e spoglio di esperienze. Fondo Palatino 268, Folio 166r BCNF.
Robinson D K, 2001 “Reaction-time experiments in Wundt's Institute and beyond”, in Wilhelm Wundt in History: The Making of a Scientific Psychology Eds Rieber R W, Robinson D K, (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press) pp 161–204.
Ronzani A, Maccarrone F, Di Lieto A, 2008 “Measuring light speed with a modulated laser diode” European Journal of Physics 29 957–965.
Salmon W, 1977 “The philosophical significance of the one-way speed of light” Noûs 11 253–292.
Schmidgen H, 2003 “Time and noise: The stable surroundings of reaction experiments, 1860–1890” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34 237–275.
Schmidgen H, 2005 “Physics, ballistics, and psychology: A history of the chronoscope in/as context, 1845–1890” History of Psychology 8 46–78.
Shea W R, 1978 “Descartes as critic of Galileo”, in New Perspectives on Galileo Eds Butts R W, Pitt J C, (Dordrecht: Reidel) pp 139–159.
Straulino S, 2008 “Reconstruction of Galileo Galilei's experiment: The inclined plane” Physics Education 43 316–321.
Tozzetti G Targioni, (Ed.) 1780 Atti e Memorie Inedite dell'Accademia del Cimento (Florence: Tofani).
Titchener E B, 1905 Experimental Psychology. A Manual of Experimental Practice volume II Quantitative Experiments Part II Instructor's Manual (New York: Macmillan).
Viviani V, no date, Galilean Manuscripts, Posteriori T.10 Cimento. Fisica Sperimentale volume 10 Miscellanee I. Fondo Palatino 268, Folio 60r BCNF.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: January 1, 2009
Issue published: August 2009
PubMed: 19817156
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Article usage*
Total views and downloads: 371
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Altmetric
See the impact this article is making through the number of times it’s been read, and the Altmetric Score.
Learn more about the Altmetric Scores
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 5 view articles Opens in new tab
Crossref: 4
-
Specialty Grand Challenges in Optoelectronics
-
Drafting Agent-Based Modeling Into Basketball Analytics
-
Per una lettura fenomenologico-sperimentale della "sensata esperienza"
-
Galileo Perceptionist
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
