Part One, To Florence Summary and Analysis

GALILEO'S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel begins with a letter written on May 10, 1623 from Suor Maria Celeste to her father on the occasion of the death of Virginia Galilei, Galileo's sister, and the woman after whom Maria Celeste was originally named before taking her vows at the Convent of San Matteo.

Sobel reveals that this first letter is one of 124 letters surviving from Maria Celeste to Galileo. Of the three Galilei children only Maria Celeste had her father's intelligence, sensibility, and industry. Because of these qualities, Maria Celeste was not only as Galileo's daughter but also his confidant.

Maria Celeste was the eldest daughter of Galileo and Marina Gamba of Venice. Virginia Galilei was born on August 13, 1600, the same year the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno "was burned at the stake in Rome for insisting, among his...