How Did Galileo Contribute To Science

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Recommended: The life and work of Galileo

Ivié Harris
Astronomy
Period 6
Galileo

Galileo made many observations and discoveries that helped make our universe better to understand and was a contributor to science and what it is today.

Galileo Galilei born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of six kids in his family, was an Italian professor, mathematician, physicist, philosopher, astronomer and inventor who made observations of nature for studies for physics. Galileo wrote a number of books on his ideas before his death on January 8, 1642 in Florence, Italy. In his college years his father really pushed for him to study medicine, Galileo's’ heart was in another place which was mathematics at the time. Galileo's contribution with his methods and his use of mathematics …show more content…

Galileo noted that the frictional forces were decreased, the object would move further and further before stopping. From this a the form of the law of inertia came about; ‘’if the frictional forces could be reduced to exactly zero an object pushed at constant speed across a frictionless surface of infinite extent will continue at that speed forever after we stop pushing, unless a new force acts on it at a later time.’’ (Galileo & The Laws of Dynamics, 5) According to the Aristotle’s observation, that heavier objects fall faster than light ones, Galileo wanted to perform this by doing an experiment from the top of the Leaning tower of Pisa. He dropped two spheres of different weight and observed that both hit the ground at the same time. Galileo correctly reasoned that when an object falls more slowly, it is due to air resistance. An object moving under the influence of gravity is said to be in freefall; while an object near the surface of the Earth such an object falls at an acceleration. With this observation it gave us a better understanding of gravity and how things react with it. In another observation, Galileo observed that there are more stars than what is visible to the human eye, which in today’s world we know that, especially with city lights it's harder to see them but back in this time …show more content…

Work Cited Kittmer, Lacus. "List of Discoveries of Galileo Galilei." N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2018. Henry, John. "Scientific Revolution." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2018. Contributor, Lauren Cox SPACE.com. "Who Invented the Telescope?" Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2018. "Galileo's Discoveries - 400th Anniversary." Stanford Solar Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.
"Galileo & The Laws of Dynamics." N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2018.

"The Galileo Project." The Galileo Project | Science | Pendulum Clock. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct.

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