Galileo is most known for his discoveries that he turned into a book, The Starry Messenger. In this book he covers his discoveries of the landscape on the moon, the light coming from the Milky Way, Jupiter and its moons, Sunspots and the phases of Venus. From a young age Galileo was both bothered and motivated by the lack of scientific rule and emphasis on church rule. Galileo’s approach to learning was very admirable. Instead of sticking to his course of study, he learned by investigating his everyday activities.
In 1581, Galileo went to the University of Pisa to study medicine, the field his father wanted him to peruse. While at the University of Pisa, Galileo discovered his interest in Physics and Mathematics; he switched his major from medicine to mathematics. In 1585, he decided to leave the university without a degree to pursue a job as a teacher. He spend four years looking for a job; during this time, he tutored privately and wrote on some discoveries that he had made. In 1589, Galileo was given the job of professor of Mathematics at the University of Pisa.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian brilliant mind who revolutionized the scientific world. At the age of seventeen he enrolled in the University of Pisa, where he studied medicine and took interest in mathematics. Due to lack of interest in medicine as well as financial issues, Galileo didn’t complete his degree, but years later he managed to get a position as a professor of the University. A few years later he began working at the University of Padua and remained there until 1610 (Andrade, 1964). It was during this period that he made most of his scientific discoveries.
He would attend Camaldolese Monastery, where he wanted to become a monk. His father wanted him to be a doctor, so the idea of being a monk was turned down. In 1583, Galileo went to the University of Pisa to study medicine. He didn’t like medicine, but he did enjoy math and physics. After going to a Geometry lecture, Galileo decided to dedicate himself to math.
While there, he studied medicine and the philosophy of Aristotle until 1585. During these years at the university, he realized that he never really had any interest in medicine but that he had a talent for math. It was in 1585 that he convinced his father to let him leave the university and come home to Florence. Back in Florence, he spent his time as a tutor and began to doubt the Aristotle’s philosophy. In 1589, he was made professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa where he attended school.
He constructed a military compass, an instrument for measuring the expansion of liquids, and one of the early telescopes with which he discovered Jupiter's satellites, irregularities on the surface of the moon, star clusters in the milky way and spots on the surface of the sun. He was initially skeptical of Copernicus' theory however his observations and experiments affirmed his diagram of the universe. Critics attacked Galilei's findings. They said that his "discoveries" were ridiculous to believe and that it was only is imagination or dreams. Galilei wrote a letter to Dowager Grand Duchess trying to reconcile his astronomical observations with the Bible.
When he grew up, he excelled in the fields of science and math. He then attended college at Pisa, where he later held the chair in mathematics from 1589 - 1592. Later, he was transferred to the University of Padua (the university of the Republic of Venice), where he was appointed to the chair of mathematics until 1610, when he went back to the University of Pisa. There, he studied medicine and astronomy. He stayed there for a year and then in 1611, he went to Rome.
Somewhat angered, his father withdrew him from the monastery, and Galileo continued his high school education in Florence. At age seventeen Galileo began college at the University of Pisa, where he reluctantly studied medicine. 6 Throughout his first term attending the university, Galileo became more interested in mathematics than medicine. A court mathematician, by the name of Ostillo Ricci, noticed Galileo in his lectures.7 Impressed with Galileo’s knowledge, he urged Galileo change his major to mathematics. Against his father’s wishes, Galileo changed courses, and by the end of his first term he was a mathematics undergraduate.8 Galileo made his first important discovery while attending the University of Pisa.
Galileo began teaching private mathematics in Florence, and then during 1585-86 at Siena where he held a public appointment. During the summer of 1586 he wrote his first scientific book The Little Balance (La Balancitta) which described Archimedes' method of finding the relative densities of substances using a balance. In the following year he traveled to Rome to visit Clavius who was professor of mathematics there. A topic which was very popular with mathematicians at this time was centers of gravity and Galileo brought with him some results which he had discovered on this topic. But even though he impressed Clavius with his knowledge on various subjects, Galileo failed to gain a job to teach mathematics at the University of Bologna.
After this discovery he was appointed chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, it was here that he claimed his fame. In 1597 he constructed a military compass witch brought him acclaim, it was astronomy and motion that established his reputation as a leading scientist. In 1609 Galileo perfected the telescope, he began to look into the sky, soon he disp... ... middle of paper ... ... approximately a century later and his remains were shifted to a fine tomb in the Cathedral Church. Unlike Copernicus or Kepler, he was not a systematic or a speculative thinker, preferring to base his work on a careful inquiry into the causes of natural philosophy. As indicated by his various inventions, he was also interested in applying his knowledge to practical problems.