Abstract
This paper examines how Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), a mathematician and philosopher from Florence, proved the solar rotation. By analyzing his works Letters on the Sunspots and Discourse on Bodies in Water, this paper argues that Galileo could reach his conclusion by introducing substantial evidence from natural philosophy as well as from the mixed mathematical sciences. This contradicts previous researches that suggest that Galileo supported his argument on solar rotation only through observations of sunspots and mathematical reasoning based on them. The natural philosophical elements Galileo introduced were the analogy between the Earth and the Sun that he drew using the then popular idea of fluid heaven, his idea of a fluid-like solar “atmosphere” that included sunspots, and his theory of matter. In making the argument for solar rotation, Galileo blurred the strict disciplinary boundary that had existed between mixed mathematics and natural philosophy. Galileo’s solar rotation was the product of his hybrid practice, by which he crisscrossed the boundaries between the two disciplines, combining elements of mixed mathematics with those of natural philosophy.
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