Signs of the Times

Galileo

Little did I know that Galileo Galielei--philosopher, astronomer, scientist--was, as my philosophy textbook puts it, "An exact contemporary of Shakespeare."  While studying philosophy, I serendipitously found myself learning about the life and times of Shakespeare.  Maybe a more appropriate title for this post would be, "Things I learned about Shakespeare by learning about Galileo."

Galileo's story is fascinating, and there are two characteristics of the time period that I gleaned from reading his history: