Title: Galileo, title page from Le Operazione del Compasso Geometrico et Militare (The Operation of the Geometric and Military Compass), Padua, 1606
Date: 1606
Original Format: photograph: negative
Description: The Compasso was Galileo’s first published book and was printed in Padua, where he had taught mathematics at the University since 1592. Written in the vernacular, the book was directed to a wide audience. It was dedicated to Cosimo II de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had been one of Galileo’s students and who would hire him as his philosopher and mathematician a few years later.
Collection: Rare Books
Caltech Archives ID: RB-GG1606-1
