Mario Biagioli is professor of history of science at Harvard University and the author of Galileo, Courtier: The Practice of Science in the Culture of Absolutism, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
"""In the history of science there have traditionally been those who study the social setting of scientists and those who study the science itself.... Biagioli's book takes the analysis one step further.... Galileo, Courtier is the most important book on Galileo to appear in half a century."" - Albert Van Helden, Rice University ""One of the most challenging commentaries I've read on Galileo's life and world.... Indeed, Biagioli's command of primary and secondary documentation is spectacular and his readings of both texts and events are extremely deft and elegant."" - Anthony Grafton, Princeton University"""