On the Translatability of Scientific Discoveries: Galileo, Medicean Diplomacy and the Spanish Court (1612–32)

This article addresses the story of the negotiations between Galileo Galilei and the court in Madrid as attempts were made to have the Spanish navy adopt the method he had ‘discovered’ for measuring marine longitudes. These dealings lasted for years and involved the active diplomacy of the Medici at the court of the ‘Catholic King’. We consider modes of contact and how Galileo put forward some of his inventions, and how cultural and scholarly communication functioned between the Tuscan scientist and those responsible for politics and culture at the Spanish court. This case study, in both its means and limitations, thus allows us to analyse the role of diplomacy in scientific communication, a subject that has been little studied but remains open to in-depth approaches. In this respect it is important to study some of the individuals who played the role of ‘intermediaries’ between the two sides, paying special attention to the curiosities and cultural stimuli of those involved in diplomacy (whether agents, envoys, or ambassadors, both ordinary and extraordinary)—individuals who could play a role in cultural mediation, not always carried out with planned or explicit purpose, but often effective in facilitating the circulation and exchange of information