What was Galileo Galilei ?

One of the impetuses for Galileo trying his hand at so many different scientific disciplines during his young adulthood was his father’s death. After his father died, Gallileo would unfortunately inherit some of old man’s financial obligations.

Galileo was entrusted to take care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. Galileo found himself paying for his younger brother’s musical endeavors and his share of the unpaid dowries to their brothers-in-law.

Galileo’s work on military and geometric compasses did make him a considerable amount of money.

One of the first times Galileo brushed up against authority figures was during his time teaching at the University of Pisa. Galileo was not a fan of the mandatory black robes the instructors had to wear and thought the practice was pretentious.

Many people consider a scene from Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline to be a direct reference to Galileo’s most notable discovery. During the play, the god Jupiter descends from the heavens and four ghosts suddenly appear dancing around the ancient deity.

Galileo’s discovery of four of the planet Jupiter’s moons. Curiously, both Shakespeare and Galileo were born in 1564.

In 2010, Florence’s Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza was renamed as the Museo Galileo.

Galileo during his extraordinary life, including the telescopes that transformed our understanding of the universe

During the Apollo 15 lunar mission, American astronaut David Scott performed Galileo’s theory of falling objects on the Moon

Galileo has made a couple appearances in the popular children’s animated series Arthur. In one episode, lead character Arthur imagines Galileo must have had strict parents like his own, who enforced strict bedtimes.

The Roman Catholic Inquisition first tried Galileo in 1616. They ruled his heliocentrism as heretical and banned books that advocated for this theory

Galileo largely complied with this judgment, but his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was thought to implicitly defend heliocentrism and thus, he was brought to the Inquisition once again in 1633.

Galileo was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life.

Galileo spent the final years of his life under house arrest. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to recite the seven penitential psalms once a week for three years.

Galileo spent the final years of his life under house arrest. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to recite the seven penitential psalms once a week for three years.

His daughter Maria Celeste was later granted permission to perform the psalms for him. Galileo would also spend his arrest writing Two New Sciences, which compiled his life’s work on two fields of physics, kinematics and strength of materials.

Galileo died on January 8, 1642 in his villa in Arcteri, just outside of Florence; he was 77. Galileo’s final years were marked by a series of ailments

He had become completely blind by 1638 and was also suffering from insomnia and a hernia. In the lead up to his death, Galileo experienced fever and heart palpitations.

Galileo’s troubles with the Roman Catholic Church, many popes have attempted to rectify and regret their handling of the situation. Most notable in 1992, Pope John Paul II issued an official declaration acknowledging mistakes made by the Church in how they treated Galileo and his findings.

Galileo’s astronomical findings validated the theory of heliocentrism, which states that the Earth and other planets in the system revolve around the sun.

A prevailing urban legend surrounding Galileo is that he became blind from extensively observing the sun. In reality, Galileo’s worsening vision was the result of an unfortunate combination of cataracts and glaucoma.

Galileo only ever looked at the sun directly at sunrise and sunset, before eventually only using projections, both of which would have been safe, even with the primitive telescopes of his day.