flâneur

Belisario Vinta

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Belisario Vinta was born in Volterra and became a Florentine citizen in 1579. He began a brilliant political career and held numerous offices, attaining the highest rank of First Secretary of State of the Grand Duchy. In this capacity he met Galileo during his teaching years at Padua and personally managed the negotiations which brought Galileo back to Tuscany after his astronomical discoveries. To Belisario Vinta goes the credit for choosing to call the moons of Jupiter the Medicean Planets and not, as Galileo had proposed, the Cosmic Planets after the name of Grand Duke Cosimo II (1590-1621). In a letter of February 10, 1610 Vinta wrote to Galileo: "[...] Your idea of naming the new planets you have discovered after His Highness is generous and heroic and in keeping with the your unique and wonderful genius. And since you have done me the honor of asking my opinion about what name to give to these planets, whether the Cosmic or the Medicean Stars, I openly state my feeling that the l

Belisario Vinta italiano / english Scientific Itineraries in Tuscany > Biographies > Biography Related links Date of birth: 1542 Date of death: 1613 Belisario Vinta Belisario Vinta was born in Volterra and became a Florentine citizen in 1579. He began a brilliant political career and held numerous offices, attaining the highest rank of First Secretary of State of the Grand Duchy. In this capacity he met Galileo during his teaching years at Padua and personally managed the negotiations which brought Galileo back to Tuscany after his astronomical discoveries. To Belisario Vinta goes the credit f

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