This book offers the English translation of 'Momento. Studi Galileiani', the most comprehensive and rigorously documented account of the process through which Galileo, having revealed the limitations of traditional theories of motion and weight, developed a new science of mechanics and dynamics. It traces how, in the midst of the Scientific Revolution, the tension between inherited doctrines and innovative inquiry led to a radical transformation in the conception of nature and its laws. By examining the evolution of scientific terminology and its conceptual implications, the book shows how Galileo’s mathematical approach reshaped the understanding of motion and natural processes, while confronting the intellectual resistance of his time. Combining detailed historical reconstruction with methodological insight, this study provides a crucial resource for scholars of early modern science, the history of physics and mathematics, epistemology, and the development of scientific language.

Paolo Galluzzi is an Italian historian of science specializing in the Renaissance and early modern periods, with particular emphasis on Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the development of scientific culture and institutions. A graduate of the University of Florence, where he studied under Eugenio Garin, he served for a decade as Director of Research at the Lessico Intellettuale Europeo in Rome, overseeing major editorial projects including the Lessico delle opere di Galileo. Appointed Full Professor of the History of Science in 1979, he taught at the University of Siena and later at the University of Florence until 2012. From 1982 to 2021, he was Director of the Museo Galileo in Florence, significantly shaping it into a leading international center for the study and promotion of scientific heritage; he now serves as its Honorary President. Galluzzi has held visiting appointments at institutions including Harvard, Stanford, and Caltech, and has lectured widely at major universities and research centers worldwide. A prolific scholar with over 300 publications, he has also founded and directed influential journals and major editorial series in the history of science. His contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Italian Republic’s Gold Medal for cultural merit and the Lewis Mumford Award. He was the President of da Vinci’ s centennial celebrations 2019-2020. He is fellow of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and The Royal Academy of sciences, Stockholm.

Andrew Rodionov is a technical writer and patent agent with a B.S. in physics from Texas A&M University. His interests focus on the history of early modern science, particularly the development of mechanics in the seventeenth century and the language used by Galileo and his contemporaries to articulate emerging mechanical concepts. Drawing on his scientific training and professional experience analyzing technical language, he studies how key terms and arguments in early modern mechanics were formulated and transmitted. He prepared the present English translation of Paolo Galluzzi’s Momento in order to make this important study of Galilean mechanics accessible to a wider English-speaking audience.