Heidi White
History 101 Honors
Semester Project
Galileo
Background and achievements
Galileo is considered the father of modern science, as Stephen Hawking stated “Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern Science.” Galileo was born February 15, 1564 in Pisa. Galileo was the oldest of seven children. Galileo’s father was a musician. Galileo’s family moved to Florence in 1572. Galileo is said to have wanted to become a painter and a monk at one time but was dissuaded by his father who thought he should obtain a medical degree. Galileo studied for his medical degree at the University of Padua but decided to pursue mathematics instead. “If I were again beginning my studies I would follow the advice of Plato and start with mathematics” ~Galileo Galilei. He was later appointed in 1589 to the chair of mathematics in Pisa. He also became a mathematician at the University of Padua in 1592. He met Marina Gamba in Padua and they had three illegitimate children; Virginia in 1600, Livia in 1601, and Vincenzo in 1606. Both of his daughters later became nuns.
Galileo invented a thermometer in 1593, a compass in 1597, a telescope in 1609, a compound microscope in 1609, and the pendulum clock in 1641. Out of all of his accomplishments, Galileo’s most notable achievement was his improvement of the “spyglass”, telescope, in 1609. Galileo set up a telescope on his rooftop in Padua and made some incredible observations. He was able to see the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, sunspots, and the moon’s surface. He issued The Starry Messenger in 1610, Letters on Sunspots in 1613 and was put in the position of Mathematician and philosopher to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1610 the majority of Galil...
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...ed a role because new things are being discovered all the time.
House Arrest
After his trial, Galileo spent the rest of life under house arrest. Galileo finished his book, Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations concerning Two New Sciences, which was smuggled out of Italy and did not mention copernicanism. His book was then published in Holland in 1638 by Louis Elzivier. Galileo admitted he was amazed by its’ publication. Galileo also made contributions to mechanics and studied motion. He eventually lost his sight and became blind. Even though he was blind Galileo made the Pendulum Clock in 1641. Galileo died January 8, 1642 and was buried in the basement of a church until 1737. Galileo was constantly searching for truth. Perhaps what helped Galileo the most was his willingness and desire to explore new ideas and options in a world that was very narrow minded.
Galileo had heard about the theories that the previous scientists had stated. Galileo wanted to see if what they were saying was accurate. To prove the heliocentric theory he invented the telescope in the year 1609 that help to confirm that it was in fact the heliocentric model instead of what everyone believed which was the geocentric model. Galileo started to share his discoveries to the public, but stopped after the Church told him not to share the information. (Doc ) However, the timeline indicates that Galileo waited seventeen years before sharing the information again publicly, so he actually obeyed the Church’s request for a very long time. Galileo was a devoted Catholic and strongly believed in the words of the Bible. In a letter written in 1615 written by Galileo to the duchess of Tuscany Galileo he stated how the Bible can sometime be misunderstood,“ But [he] believe that nobody will deny that the Bible is often very complex, and may say things which are quite different from what its bare words signify…”(document A). Galileo wanted to convince the Duchess that perhaps the evidence he gathered could be used to interpret the sun’s placement as the Bible was difficult to understand at times. The fact that Galileo was so religious validated his reliability, because he would have favored the Bible over his theory. He only argued about this one concept from the Bible and he had physical evidence and support from other scientists to prove his
Galileo even as a boy seemed destined to challenge the scientific thought of the day. He has often been characterized as a pioneer of rebellion against authority. If that was true then he was only following in his father’s footsteps. His Father, a revolutionary man in the world of music who spoke out against the music theories of his day, was quoted as saying, "It appears to me that those who try to prove an assertion by relying simply on the weight of authority act very absurdly" (White, 196). Galileo continued in his father’s rebellion against contemporary views with his support of a helio-centric-universe, a view previously argued by Copernicus, but for the most part ignored by scientists for its contradiction with the established, church-endorsed system of Ptolemy.
Galileo Galilei (Physicist, Scientist, Mathematician) – He is the 7th most influential people in history. He was often called as Galileo and was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Dutche of Florence, Italy. Galileo is an Italian physicist, engineer, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. During the Renaissance Period, he played an important part on the scientific revolution. He is called as the Father of Physics, Science and Observational Astronomy. Galileo’s father was named Vicenzo Galilei who was a composer, music theorist and a lutenist. And his mother was named Giulia Ammannati.
After reading this letter I feel that Galileo had a very opinionated outlook on life and was heavily involved in a struggle for freedom of inquiry. Galileo was a person who had many strong beliefs and would not let people or a document have a say in what he believes.
Galileo was born in Pisa Italy on February 15, 1564. Galileo was the first born child to Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati. His family moved to Florence Italy after living in Pisa for ten years. In Florence he received education at the Camaldolese monastery in Vallombrosa. Later on in his life he decided to study medicine at the University of Pisa to study medicine. Wh...
Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist, often referred to as “the father of modern physics”. He was one of the inventors of the telescope and a strong proponent of Copernicanism. Galileo used his invention to make astronomical observations which supported Copernicus’ heliocentric model of the universe. These discoveries led to a fierce dispute, because they contradicted the theory which was prevalent at the time – that the universe followed a geocentric model, a theory, which had been accepted by the Catholic Church. To address this dispute, Galileo wrote a letter to Tuscany’s Grand Duchess Christina, in which he presented his position on the relation between science and religion, stating that the Bible does not contradict science.
Galileo Galilei was born in 1564, and was invested into science. Due to rumors in the year of 1609, about a Dutch who invented a device that zoomed in on distant objects (this was known as a spyglass earlier in the years, now its known as a telescope. He heard that a patent had been requested, but was not granted. There was a lot of value in this because the methods were kept secret, and this could be used in the military for Holland. Due to the rumors, Galilei was soon determined and driven to construct his own spyglass. Within 24 hours, only using his knowledge, experimentation, and pieces of the rumors, and never seeing the actual Dutch spyglass, Galilei soon found himself building a 3-power telescope. With some tweaks, he soon had a 10 power-telescope. From here, he demonstrated this it a Senate, and his salary was raised, and honored with proclamations. This shows how smart Galilei was, being able to construct his own telescope with nothing but his brain.
university milieu, and in fact his theories were not published until the time of his death.
“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him” (qtd. in “Nothing But the Facts About Galileo Galilei”). This was the adage that Galileo lived by. He consistently made it his purpose to understand and decipher the world for himself, and there was not a single person in the world that he was incapable of learning something from. During his youth, Galileo’s father had wanted him to study medicine in order to make a profitable living; at this urging, Galileo attended a medical university, but almost failed and ended up leaving without a degree. During his time at the university, however, he did make his first (and one of his most important) discoveries. He found that the period of each swing of a pendulum was exactly the same. This would come to be known as the law of the pendulum and would provide the basis for the regulation of clocks. A few more of his benefits to society came purely from the fact that he needed money in order to pay his debts. Some examples of what he threw together during these times of need include a rudimentary thermometer and both a military and civilian compas...
In 1610 he was one of the first people to use the telescope to observe
Galileo was born in February of 1564 to a poor family that resided in Pisa, Italy. Galileo’s father was a composer and musical therapist, but he also supported his family through working in the wool trade. Galileo and his family moved to Florence, Italy in the 1570s, and here Galileo began to attend
Galileo used this great invention to report astronomical facts such as the moon is cover with craters instead of being smooth, the Milky Way is composed of millions of stars, and Jupiter have four moons. Perhaps the most famous discovery is the Earth revolves around the Sun and the Earth is not the center of the universe (even though he was discredited at the time).
Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564, in Pisa, Italy. He was a mathematics professor who made pioneering observations of nature with long-lasting implications for the study of physics. Galileo constructed a machine that changed everything in astronomy, the telescope, and this supported the Copernican theory. In 1600, Galileo met Marina Gamba, a Venetian woman, who gave him three children. The daughters were Virginia and Livia, and son Vincenzo. But He never married Marina because he feared his illegitimate children would threaten his social standing. He died in Arcetri, Italy, on January 8, 1642.
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15th, 1564. His father, Vincenzo was a music teacher and musician. After his family moved to Florence, Galilei was sent to a monastery to be educated. He was so happy there that he decided to become a monk, but his father wanted him to be a medical doctor and brought him home to Florence. He was never really interested in medicine and studied mathematics at the University of Pisa. He was especially interested in famous mathematicians like Euclid (geometry) and Archimedes. In fact in 1586 he wrote his first book about one of Archimedes theories. He eventually became head of mathematics at the University of Pisa where he first wrote about a very important idea that he developed. It was about using experiments to test theories. He wrote about falling bodies in motion using inclined planes to test his theories.
...t science is not merely a group of 'inventive dwarfs'. Instead, science is a way of life. The book of discourses (dealing with the laws of motion), that was published after Galileo's recantation, represents a way in which Galileo can contemplate for his unethical and immoral acts by generating knowledge to the public. Although Galileo reassures the making of science by making the book of discourses, nothing can ever bring compensation to the harm which he brought on humanity and the way in which he destroyed the meaning of sacrifice.