Galileo & The Age of Astronomy
How one man and the world’s most powerful family shaped how we understand our place in the universe today.
How It Began
The Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) approached Bluecadet to create a site that would both educate and entice visitors to attend the landmark show Galileo & The Age of Astronomy.
The exhibit featured one of only two remaining telescopes owned and built by Galileo. Timed to take place during the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s astronomical discoveries, as well as the International Year of Astronomy, the exhibit explored the extraordinary effect that Galileo’s work, as well as that of other luminaries during the age of the Medicis, had on science and on the world.
What We Did
Our solution was an engaging, interactive online experience that used the astronomer’s own tools and materials to tell the story of how one man and the world’s most powerful family shaped how we understand our place in the universe today.
We worked in close collaboration with the Franklin to create and curate the content needed to tell this story. The more than 100 artifacts from the Franklin and the Museum of the History of Science in Florence were rare and visually engaging, but there was little content besides photography available for use on the site.
How We Did It
Our strategy focused on the importance of Florence's influential Medici family as advocates of science and art, and how their patronage of Galileo's work directly shaped the modern world. This gave us the foundation we needed to draw connections between the artifacts and show how they remain relevant today.
To bring the collection - and Galileo’s influence - into the present, we recorded Franklin Institute's chief astronomer Derrik Pitts as he described each artifact in detail. As people explored the interactive gallery, they viewed artifacts up close and listened to Dr. Pitts describe their significance to history.
A companion interactive timeline presented critical moments in Galileo’s life. The timeline and the gallery shared the same Drupal-based CMS as the rest of the site. Curators could manage content with a degree of independence that was entirely new to them.
Curators could also draw connections between different types of content, further enriching the experience for visitors by highlighting new and unexpected relationships in the material.
The Impact
The focus on the material record and the emphasis on exploration gave people a doorway into history and understand the present. The end result showcased Galileo's accomplishments, his relationship to the ruling Medici family, his discoveries, and his overall impact on astronomy, physics, and math.
