25 August 1609
On this day 400 years ago, Galileo demonstrated his telescope in Venice.
When we were in Italy last year, we visited the Museo di Storia della Scienza in Florence. They have a number of his early telescopes on display.
They also have a number of interactive exhibits that the kids really enjoyed:
But that’s not all. They also have some exhibits which we found surprising. Our favorite was this one:
That’s the middle finger of his right hand in a reliquary.
CNN says that they’ve found two more of his fingers.