Capturing, Modeling, Overseeing, and Making Credible: The Functions of Vision and Visual Material at the Accademia del Cimento

The Accademia del Cimento (Florence) is the first European academy to be supported by a public power and to put experimentation at the core of scientific activity. During its activity (1657–1667), the Cimento carried out hundreds of experiments. A minor part of them is collected in the only printed work produced by the Accademia, the Saggi di Naturali Esperienze (1667). Almost one hundred illustrations accompany the twelve groups of experiments presented in the Saggi. They are mainly drawings of instruments and experimental apparatus. In spite of the sumptuousness of the edition, these drawings are characterized by a functional simplicity. Tables, diagrams and illustrations also punctuate diaries, handwritten notes and correspondence. A study of the unpublished documents shows the role of visual images in experimental design and allows to explore the wider problem of the relationship between thought and vision. This contribution analyses the epistemic function of vision in the Cimento’s experiments and debates around the issue of natural freezing and the properties of heat and cold. Discussions on the topic include geometrical demonstrations and mathematical representations, punctually excluded from the Saggi but occasionally resumed by individual members in later works.