Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei; 15 February 1564– 8 January 1642 was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution[->0]. Hisachievements include improvements to the telescope[->1] and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism[->2]. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observationalastronomy[->3], the "father of modern physics[->4]," the "father of science[->5]," and "the Father of Modern Science."Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, wasresponsible for the birth of modern science."
The motion of uniformly accelerated objects, taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses, was studied by Galileo as the subject ofkinematics[->6]. His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus[->7], the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter[->8] (named theGalilean moons[->9] in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots[->10]. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass[->11] and otherinstruments.
Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, when a large majority of philosophers and astronomers still subscribed to the geocentric[->12] view that theEarth is at the centre of the universe. After 1610, when he began publicly supporting the heliocentric[->13] view, which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe, he met with bitter opposition fromsome philosophers and clerics, and two of the latter eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition[->14] early in 1615. In February 1616, although he had been cleared of any offence, the CatholicChurch nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture", and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it—which he promised to do. When he later defended his views in...