PhD defence Anna-Luna Post: Claiming Fame for Galileo

On 30 September, Anna-Luna Post (Languages, Literature and Communication) defends her dissertation Claiming Fame for Galileo: Reputation and Scholarly Credibility in Early Modern Italy at the University Hall.

Fame in scholarship

What is the impact of the culture of fame on scholarship and science? How do scientists become famous, and how does their fame influence the reception of their ideas and claims in society? Are claims by famous scholars more easily accepted, or is there also a downside to fame? This dissertation explores these questions by way of the case study of Galileo Galilei – one of the most famous and most controversial scholars of all time. 

Galileo's credibility

Post's research shows that Galileo’s fame was the result of the active engagement of various individuals and groups (among them scholars as well as courtiers, poets and priests), who acted out of pragmatic as well as ideological motives and used his fame both in support of and against his credibility. Thus, fame was an important yet capricious indicator of credibility within the scholarly world.