Galileo was summoned before the Roman Inquisition in At first he denied that he had advocated heliocentrism, but later he said he had only done so unintentionally. Nearly 70 at the time of his trial, Galileo lived his last nine years under comfortable house arrest, writing a summary of his early motion experiments that became his final great scientific work. He died in Arcetri near Florence, Italy on January 8, at age 77 after suffering from heart palpitations and a fever.
His inventions, from compasses and balances to improved telescopes and microscopes, revolutionized astronomy and biology. His penchant for thoughtful and inventive experimentation pushed the scientific method toward its modern form. In his conflict with the Church, Galileo was also largely vindicated. Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire used tales of his trial often in simplified and exaggerated form to portray Galileo as a martyr for objectivity.
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He was a college dropout. Galileo, whose father was a lute player and music theorist, was born in Pisa, Italy. The Copernican theory, however, challenged the doctrine of Aristotle and the established order set by the Catholic Church.
In , Galileo wrote a letter to a student to explain how Copernican theory did not contradict Biblical passages, stating that scripture was written from an earthly perspective and implied that science provided a different, more accurate perspective. The letter was made public and Church Inquisition consultants pronounced Copernican theory heretical. Galileo obeyed the order for seven years, partly to make life easier and partly because he was a devoted Catholic.
He allowed Galileo to pursue his work on astronomy and even encouraged him to publish it, on condition it be objective and not advocate Copernican theory. Church reaction was swift, and Galileo was summoned to Rome. During most of this time, Galileo was treated with respect and never imprisoned. However, in a final attempt to break him, Galileo was threatened with torture, and he finally admitted he had supported Copernican theory, but privately held that his statements were correct.
He was convicted of heresy and spent his remaining years under house arrest. Though ordered not to have any visitors nor have any of his works printed outside of Italy, he ignored both. In , a French translation of his study of forces and their effects on matter was published, and a year later, copies of the Dialogue were published in Holland. By this time, Galileo had become blind and was in poor health. In , it lifted the ban on most works supporting Copernican theory. It wasn't until that the Vatican dropped its opposition to heliocentrism altogether.
In the 20th century, several popes acknowledged the great work of Galileo, and in , Pope John Paul II expressed regret about how the Galileo affair was handled. Galileo died after suffering from a fever and heart palpitations on January 8, , in Arcetri, near Florence, Italy.
Galileo's contribution to our understanding of the universe was significant not only for his discoveries, but for the methods he developed and the use of mathematics to prove them. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Galileo is praised for several important inventions, including the thermoscope a precursor to the modern thermometer that indicates temperature fluctuations and several forms of sectors , also known as military compasses.
The latter tool was used for multiplication and division and finding square and cube roots, among other mathematical functions. Galileo sold these inventions to supplement his salary as a professor.
In , Galileo learned of an invention in the Netherlands that made distant objects appear much closer, and the scholar immediately moved to make something similar. The astronomer improved the tool to magnify objects up to 20 to 30 times and, much more famously, was one of the first individuals to point it toward the sky. These findings suggested for the first time that the celestial world was far from perfect. These observations would prove imperative in shattering the then-prevalent theory claiming the universe was centered around the Earth.
This sort of gesture was prevalent throughout the Renaissance, and many influential individuals clamored to support artists and academics to increase their personal prestige. As a result, Galileo avoided the topic publicly until , when he published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which seemed to ardently support heliocentrism.
Though Galileo is famed for this conflict, the scholar was surprisingly devout in his personal life: He was raised as a staunch Catholic and even considered the priesthood as a potential career.
Galileo continued working and writing while imprisoned for heresy in his home near Florence, and during this time, his vision began to blur.
His investigation of the laws of motion and improvements on the telescope helped further the understanding of the world and universe around him. Both led him to question the current belief of the time — that all things revolved around the Earth. The Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, taught that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones, a belief still held in Galileo's lifetime.
But Galileo wasn't convinced. Experimenting with balls of different sizes and weights, he rolled them down ramps with various inclinations. His experiments revealed that all of the balls boasted the same acceleration independent of their mass.
He also demonstrated that objects thrown in the air travel along a parabola. At the same time, Galileo worked with pendulums. In his life, accurate timekeeping was virtually nonexistent. Galileo observed, however, that the steady motion of a pendulum could improve this.
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