On a disputed argument in Galileo’s Discorsi

Abstract

Laying the foundations of the free fall motion in his well-known and latest book, the Discorsi, Galileo sets out an argument by which he aims to disprove that the velocity acquired by a naturally falling body increases proportionally to the distance descended through. In this paper, we shall contextualise the relevance of the study of free fall motion at the time his work was published, as well as review what different historians of science have stated about Galileo’s reasoning.