Galileo Galilei, the most renowned scientist of the Renaissance period, or the “father of modern science” was known as a jack-of-all-trades: he was an astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician just to name a few. But perhaps what he is most known for is spurring the scientific revolution in the late seventeenth century. Galileo challenged what was then considered common knowledge for almost 30 years: for example, the idea of a heliocentric universe. The most controversial of these ideas was embracing the theories of Nicholas Copernicus. Not only did he embrace Copernicus’ ideas, but expanded and substantiated them. The consequences of these actions were multiple trials with the Church regarding his work and later …show more content…
Even when he was a young boy in Pisa, Italy, Galileo showed signs of genius, but he also showed signs of being a rebel. A rebellious spirit would get him in a lot of trouble later on in his life. It is speculated that he received some early schooling in Pisa; In fact, during his early student years in Pisa, Galileo is said to have made the observation that would one day make him famous. He noticed the lamp in the sanctuary swung like a pendulum from the cathedral ceiling and to have discovered the time taken for a swing was independent of the size of the arc. By this point, in Galileo’s life, it was clear that medicine was not the right field for him. Due to the discovery of his talents in mathematics and philosophy he dropped out of college without a degree in medicine. Even before he began to look focus on what his new discoveries meant, Galileo considered himself a Copernican or a follower of Copernicus. He especially respected Copernicus’ work in and ideas about astronomy. In 1610, 25 years after he dropped out of university, he became aware of a telescope developed by a regular correspondent of his, Johannes Kepler. Galileo rushed to construct his own, and soon after, he announced many new astronomical discoveries. Some of these included his discovery that the Milky Way is made up of innumerable stars and his observation of the satellites of Jupiter. Already, at a young age, Galileo had begun to
In 1633 the Vatican put a famous astronomer under house arrest. His name was Galileo Galeli, and he was one of the most talented scientists to ever walk the face of the earth. Galileo was an early pioneer in the field of physics and astronomy, and played an important role in the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
The Catholic church has performed many acts of injustice in order to retain their power and influence throughout the world. One of the most prominent acts in the world of science was the prosecution of Galileo Galilei. Galileo had become the father of modern science, due to his scientific breakthroughs revolutionizing modern technology. However, Galileo’s supporting argument for the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe had caught the Church’s attention, and they would go on to accuse Galileo of heresy, forcing him to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. The battle between Galileo and the Holy Office was a long and treacherous one with Galileo being condemned not once, but twice. This led to a
During the time of Galileo, the church was very strict with physicists who believed in the Copernican model. This is exactly the position that Galileo found himself in. In 1600 Galileo began making his own telescope. He became the first person to point one at the night sky. What staggered him the most by doing this was the sheer volume of stars that were not visible with the naked eye. Galileo used his telescope to make many discoveries; one of these is the discovery of Jupiter’s four moons. He even plotted and tracked there rotations around Jupiter. The main thing however, was that Jupiter even had moons, this was proof that the geocentric model was incorrect and that this discovery was in favour of the Copernican model.
Scientifically, Galileo will be remembered for invention of the telescope, which allowed astronomers, sailors and other view the heavens and seas, which fed their own theories. He used his own invention to discover the four moons of Jupiter, the mountains and craters of the moon, and sunspots. His work on falling objects led to gravitational studies and mathematical theorems which are on a basic level, physics. Experimentation was used as a means to prove the laws of science along with the mathematical theories. Math, according to Galileo, was the only infallible form of logic. If a mathematical law could be formed from an event, then it was a logical, rational event. His breaking from the Catholic Church, voicing his findings and staying with his convictions broke the traditional way of thinking that the Church was the end all and be all of all things. In the end, he was proven right for most of his beliefs and vindicated for his suppression.
Galileo was the first European to make systematic observations of the heavens through his improved invention of the telescope. Through his telescope, Galileo made a series of discoveries. Galileo’s observations demolished among the traditional cosmology of what the universe seemed to be composed of. Not only did Galileo make astonishing discoveries, but he was also offered a new position from Grand Duke Cain II of Florence, as his court mathematician. During this time, Galileo was told that he could continue to discuss Copernicanism, as long as he would maintain everything as mathematical supposition, and not as facts. Due to the Inquisitions response, the church attacked the Copernican system since it threaten the Scripture and its’ entire conception of the universe. The new system rose'd much uncertainty that seemed as prudent to simply condemn it. In 1633, Galileo was found guilty of teaching the condemned Copernican system and was then forced to be placed under house arrest. He spent the remaining eight years of life studying mechanics. The principal of motion was the one of the problems that fell under the heading of mechanics. At the end, Galileo made two contributions to the problem of motion. He demonstrated by experimenting uniform force to accelerate
Galileo was first to have the use of a telescope to observe celestial bodies, which helped him greatly in making new discoveries. He was able to not only study the motion of other planets, but was able to observe the satellites orbiting those planets. Galileo also discovered an enormous amount of stars by observing the Milky Way giving way to theorizing that there is more to our universe then what was previously thought. Galileo later found himself in trouble with the Catholic Church for publicly announcing his findings, which went against the Church’s held beliefs of the Earth’s place in our universe. Sadly, Galileo had to essentially denounce his findings and was forced to keep his discoveries private for the rest of his days.
Without seeing this device, Galileo successfully built his own telescope. after making some improvements, he used his telescope to study to heavens in 1609. In 1610 , Galileo published a series of newsletters called Starry messenger, which described his astonishing observations. Galileo announced that jupiter had four moons, and that the sun had dark spots.
Galileo fought on the controversial findings of Copernicus while also furthering his research. The source also brings up Galileo’s background in mathematics and how it helped him prove his theories. Of course, there is a detailed part that highlights the arguments against him and the church. The article separates Galileo’s discoveries into phases. From discovering the moon was round to discovering Venus revolved around the sun.
Galileo made his first telescope in early 1609 after being interested in similar magnifying objects that other people he knew was making at the time. Galileo's telescope helped him to discover the sunspots on our sun, four of Jupiter’s moons, and also found out that our moon did not have a smooth surface, but had a crater filled and rough surface (Armento et al. 355). In 1609, he developed a telescope better than any made ever before which had a 30x zoom on it (Armento et al.
Galileo made most of his significant discoveries at the University of Padua. In 1609, Galileo refined his theories on motion and falling objects, and developed the universal law of acceleration, which all objects in the universe obeyed. Galileo began to express openly his support of the Copernican theory that the earth and planets revolved around the sun. This challenged the doctrine of Aristotle which was set by the Catholic Church. In July of that year he discovered an instrument in the Netherlands, built by Dutch eyeglass makers, that had the ability to show distant things seem close. This propelled Galileo and he was inspired to work out on the concept, he not only mastered the secret of the invention, but he came up with his own spyglass. Galileo had learned the art of lens grinding in the past, which helped him produce an increasingly more powerful telescope. He presented this same telescope to the Venetian Senate, who were impressed by his discovery and rewarded him with life tenure and a doubling of his salary. The Venetian Senate liked his telescope and wanted him to make more of them. Further working on the functioning of the telescope, Galileo made even more improvements to the instrument so that it could magnify up to 20 times and helped him have a clear vision of the Moon and its
In his letter written in 1597 to Johannes Kepler, he states, “I accepted the view of Copernicus many years ago. And from this standpoint I have discovered many natural phenomena, which cannot be explained on the basis of the more commonly accepted hypothesis [that the Earth is the center of the Universe]”(9). In other words, Galileo also accepted the idea of the heliocentric view of the universe and that it is a better model of the universe that can explain phenomenon that could not necessarily be explained with the geocentric view. With his invention of a more powerful telescope, observation of a supernova, and discovery of the four moons of Jupiter, Galileo further supported and extended Copernicus’ theory of the heliocentric view of the
There have been many famous scientists throughout the course of history. Perhaps one of the most important of these is Galileo Galilei. His discoveries led to new advancements in the field of science on an astronomical level. He revolutionized the world with new findings that highly contradicted the conventional beliefs put in place by the Catholic Church. He was so influential, he was nicknamed “the Father of Modern Science.” Because of this, Galileo was one of the key scientists of the Scientific Revolution.
The use of the telescope led him to discover new characteristics of space and the solar system. He discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons and the rings of Saturn. He also discovered that the Milky Way galaxy is comprised of stars. The observation of mountains on the moon was made by Galileo as well. He also made numerous discoveries within these discoveries.
Scholars from all over the world could have come out with their farfetched theories and hypothesis sooner except that many were in the same position as Copernicus and were afraid of the condemnation, disapproval, scorn, and controversy they would receive from religious authority figures and religious scholars. After a couple generations had passed and Copernicus’ theory had become accepted worldwide, Copernicus had gained copious amounts of influential scholars that defended his theories in hopes to continue discovering more about the universe. Among these scholars was Galileo Galilei who served to improve the heliocentric model even further by using a telescope, which he created that made objects twenty times larger, to help him resolve lingering issues within the heliocentric model as well as discovering characteristics regarding the heavens that double as support for heliocentrism. Galileo’s discoveries didn’t stop there, he went on to discover moons orbiting Jupiter, the faults and shortcomings of the moons surface and spots on the sun. These discoveries helped diminish the previous understandings that all planets were unlike Earth that appeared as flawless orbs. Even though Galileo made countless world changing
He was an Italian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, and engineer who played a large role in the scientific revolution (1564-1642). Galileo was often faced with controversial arguments about his findings. Based on the shared knowledge of the Catholic Church, it tried to compress the personal knowledge of Galileo. This is where the idea of personal and shared knowledge shaping each other comes into perspective, as Galileo was continuously faced with the knowledge of the Church. Continuously his personal knowledge was rejected, because shared knowledge had such an influence among the people. His hypothesis frightened both the Protestant leaders and Catholic Church because it went against their teachings and authority. If people believed that the church could be wrong about this, they would question the church teachings as well. The Church warned Galileo of his theories, however silently he continued to research. The Church's greatest fear was that Galileo's personal knowledge would ultimately change the shared knowledge of the Church. In 1632, he published a book which presented both of the ideas of Copernicus and Ptolemy, and it was clear that Galileo supported the Copernican theory which stated that the Earth moved around the Sun. Galileo was sentenced to court and found guilty. Under torture, he admitted his findings were false. Only in 1992, the Catholic Church