Fig. 02. Galileo’s cantilever model, the most relevant explanatory model developed in the framework of his theory of strength of materials. Source: Galilei, Galileo, Discorsi e dimostrationi matematiche, Intorno à due nuove scienze, attenenti alla mecanica, & i movimenti locali. Bologna. Per gli HH del Dozza, 1655, 86. Courtesy of the library of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin.