[meteorite-list] Happy Birthday Galileo!

From: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:45:18 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <8CEBAA6D3F25DA9-818-274AE_at_webmail-d032.sysops.aol.com>

On Feb. 15 Phile wrote:

"Galileo Galilei born on this day in 1564"

OK. Fun with hair-pulling calendars:

Yes, and also, Happy Anniversary to the Fall of Ash Creek, that's for
sure!

A birthday by any other name .... (William Shakespeare was also reputed
to be born on this exact same date in history).

And the French settled their first town in what is now the mainland USA
on that date (Of all places the same one I'm in at the moment), maybe
it was just a few days after that precise date ...

Hi Phil,

Galileo has four birthdays, and today, February 16 is another one. But
Galileo, above all certainly would have changed his birthday in line
with the new astronomical/astrological Gregorian calendar which ocurred
during his lifetime to reflect his birthday celebration as February
25-26. The reason for the consecutive days is because in Galileo's
time the new day the date advanced one day after the Sun set. So his
Julian February 15 birthtime around 3:30PM (?) on the Julian February
16th. Which of course he would have updated to Gregorian (being the
world's biggest promoter in the importance of planetary positions in
his astrological charts + astronomical precision to return to the same
heliocentric position). So we might as well make the second half of
February a Galileo fortnight celebration ;-)

It's easier to ignore all of that and just list his Julian date like in
wikipedia, so after consulting with the guy who enlightened the world
and knew everything ahead of his time, Ben Franklin, Ben immediately
updated his birthday ... and even birth year, since New Years Day in
the Colonies was on March 25 until the switch was made from Julian to
Gregorian in 1752 setting New Years day to January 1. I prefer the old
system ... a calandar that begins with the melting of the snow. This
January 1 thing we take for granted really makes no scientific sense at
all! Fun, fun fun...

Kindest wsihes
Doug


-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Whitmer <prairiecactus at rtcol.com>
To: meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wed, Feb 15, 2012 12:44 pm
Subject: [meteorite-list] Happy Birthday Galileo!


Happy birthday to Galileo Galilei born on this day in 1564.

Phil Whitmer
Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum
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Received on Thu 16 Feb 2012 04:45:18 AM PST