Galileo’s Analysis of Pendulum Motion

Abstract

Galileo’s contribution to horology hinged on his analysis of pendulum motion. It was his proposed use of the isochronic pendulum as an escapement that made his clockwork truly novel. As developed in the next half-century by Huygens, Hooke, and others, the pendulum clock revolutionized timekeeping and enabled major strides to be made in astronomy, mechanics, and other sciences. But the sine qua non of this development was a correct scientific account of the oscillating pendulum. This in turn hinged on Galileo’s overturning of the long dominant Aristotelian epistemological position concerning what constituted a “correct scientific account.” That is, the new technology of timekeeping resulted from a new scientific analysis of pendulum motion, which in turn was possible because of a new philosophical theory of knowledge. The scientific revolution was not just a change in science, it was also a change in philosophy of science.¹