Galileo’s Fight against Science Denial

Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio talks about his latest book, Galileo: And the Science Deniers, and how the legendary scientist’s battles are still relevant today.

This is Scientific American’s Science Talk, posted on May 5, 2020. I’m Steve Mirsky. On this episode:

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That’s Mario Livio. He’s an astrophysicist and the author of popular science books. His last appearance here was in 2017 to discuss his book Why? What Makes Us Curious. He’s back to talk about his new book, just out today, titled Galileo: And the Science Deniers. We spoke by phone.


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That’s it for this episode, get your science news at our Web site (www.scientificamerican.com), where all of our coronavirus coverage is out from behind the paywall, available free.

And follow us on Twitter, where you’ll get a tweet whenever a new item hits the Web site. Our twitter name is @sciam. For Scientific American’s Science Talk, I’m Steve Mirsky. Thanks for clicking on us.

Mario Livio is an astrophysicist who worked for 24 years with the Hubble Space Telescope. He is a bestselling author of eight books, including Is Earth Exceptional? The Quest for Cosmic Life (Basic Books, September 2024), co-written with Jack W. Szostak.

More by Mario Livio

Steve Mirsky was the winner of a Twist contest in 1962, for which he received three crayons and three pieces of construction paper. It remains his most prestigious award.

More by Steve Mirsky