[meteorite-list] Happy Birthday Galileo!

[MexicoDoug]

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
______________________________________________

Visit the Archives at 
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list