The Life of Galileo Galilei

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Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564 near Pisa, in Italy, though some records say that he was born in 1563, as the New Year was sometimes believed to start in March. His father (Vincenzo Galilei) chose his name. His family was extremely proud of their ancestors, as the name came from Galileo Buonaiuti, who was first to have the name. He had been a doctor of medicine in Florence in the 1400’s. He was so famous that the whole family had taken his name in honour. Also it was a common thing for a first-born son to be given a form of his father’s last name as his first name. His mother, Guilia Galilei, was from the Ammananti family. Her marriage to Vincenzo had certainly been a step down in the social scale and she found it hard to adapt to. The monks of Vallombrosa educated Galileo at a boarding school, where he considered becoming a monk himself. At the age of 15, Galileo became a monk. Vallombrosa was 20 miles east of Florence on the top of a mountain. Vincenzo couldn’t afford the indulgence of his son becoming a monk, so Galileo soon returned from Vallombrosa and started in...

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