Galileo scientist

Galileo made one of his earliest scientific discoveries in the cathedral of Pisa. As he watched a chandelier swinging back and forth, he realized that it took the same time for each swing, whether the swings were large or small. This discovery became known as the law of the pendulum. It led to the use of the pendulum to measure time.A lack of money forced Galileo to leave the university in 1585 without taking a degree. For several years he gave private lessons in mathematics in Florence and Siena. During this period he began to study mechanics, the science concerned with the effect of forces on the motion of bodies. His work in mechanics earned him a teaching position in mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589.(1564–1642). For his contributions to astronomy and physics, Galileo has been called the founder of modern science. As one of the first people to examine the heavens with a telescope, he revealed untold wonders. He also made breakthrough discoveries in the study of motion.Galileo Galilei, who is generally known by his first name, was born in Pisa, Italy, on February 15, 1564. His father, a musician, sent him to the University of Pisa to study medicine. Galileo was more interested in science, however. Against his father's wishes, he gave up medicine to study mathematics.In 1592 Galileo became a professor of mathematics at the University of Padua. He remained there until 1610. In about 1609 Galileo learned of the invention of the telescope in the Netherlands. He built his own version of the instrument in Padua and worked on improving its magnifying power.The telescope allowed Galileo to make a number of astronomical discoveries. On January 7, 1610, he discovered four moons revolving around the planet Jupiter. In his honor, these bodies are now known as the Galilean satellites. He also saw the mountains and craters on the moon and found the Milky Way to be a dense collection of stars.In 1610 Galileo left Padua to become mathematician and philosopher to the duke of Tuscany in Florence. There he discovered that the planet Venus goes through phases just as the moon does. This finding showed that Venus revolves around the sun. Combined with his previous observations, the discovery provided visual evidence to support Nicolaus Copernicus' idea that the sun is the center of the solar system.Galileo became unpopular at the university because of his attacks on long-held scientific beliefs. According to a well-known story, he dropped objects from the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa to prove that objects of different weights fall at the same speed. This theory of gravity disagreed with the ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who believed that heavy objects fall more quickly than light ones. Galileo's writings do not mention this experiment. Nevertheless, resentment against his views drove him out of Pisa.Galileo's support of the Copernican theory brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic church. The church still taught that the Earth was the center of the universe. In 1616 Galileo was ordered not to teach or defend the ideas of Copernicus. In 1632, however, he again supported the Copernican theory in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.In 1633 Galileo was brought before the Inquisition, a Roman Catholic institution that held considerable power in those times. He was condemned to life imprisonment for having “held and taught” Copernican doctrine. He spent the last eight years of his life under house arrest near Florence. Galileo became blind in 1637 but continued to work. In 1638 he published another important book, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences. Galileo died on January 8, 1642.