Galileo+Galilie

Galileo http://galileo.rice.edu/bio/index.html site

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Constructed a military compass. Brought him acclaim and a substantial income. 1609 Built a "telescope" (although he was not the first to do so.) This enabled him to: 1. see craters on the moon, which was previously thought to be a smooth sphere. 2. discover four moons around Jupiter. The only planet believed to have a moon was the Earth 3. observe Venus shows phases (just like the moon of the Earth.)

1610 Published the findings above in a book called //Sidereus Nuncius// (//The Sidereal Messenger//). These findings were strong evidence supporting heliocentrism (Sun-centered universe) which was, at the time, against the teachings of the Bible and the Catholic Church. Galileo was then warned by the church not to teach heliocentrism as fact, only as a theory. 1623 After the appearance of three new comets in 1618, Galileo published a short work entitled Saggiatore (The Assayer) in which he supported heliocentrism and free scientific inquiry 1632 The climax of Galileo's publishing was the book, //Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo, tolemaico copernicano// (//Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican//.) The intent of the book was to present an "inconclusive" conversation between three individuals regarding the geocentric (Ptolemaic) and heliocentric (Copernican) models of the universe. Throughout the book, however, the person defending the Ptolemaic view presented himself as a fool. For defying the warning of the Catholic Church Galileo was forced to recant and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/galile.html

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564, 21 years after the death of Copernicus and three days before the death of Michelangelo. He was the first of 7 children. Although Galileo's father was a musician and wool trader, he wanted his clearly talented son to study medicine as there was more money in medicine (some things don't change, even over 400 years!). So, at age eleven, Galileo was sent off to study in a Jesuit monastery. After four years, Galileo had decided on his life's work: he announced to his father that he wanted to be.....a monk. This was not exactly what father had in mind for his gifted son, so Galileo was hastily withdrawn from the monastery. In 1581, at the age of 17, Galileo entered the University of Pisa to study medicine, as his father wished. Shortly thereafter, at age 20, Galileo noticed a lamp swinging overhead while he was in a ca

thedral. Curious to find out how long it took the lamp to swing back and forth, he used his pulse to time large and small swings. Galileo discovered something that no one else had ever realized: the period of each swing was exactly the same. The law of the pendulum, which would eventually be used to regulate clocks, made Galileo instantly famous. Unfortunately, except for mathematics, Galileo was bored by most of his courses and outspoken to his professors. His frequent absences from class eventually led the university to inform Galileo's family that their son was in danger of flunking out. A compromise was worked out, where Galileo would be tutored full-time in mathematics by the mathematician of the Tuscan court. Galileo's father was hardly overjoyed about this turn of events, since a mathematician's earning power was roughly around that of a musician, but it seemed that this might yet allow Galileo to successfully complete his college education. In the end, Galileo left the University of Pisa without a degree--a college dropout. http://quest.nasa.gov/galileo/About/galileobio.html

It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.

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