Galileo Case

The 16th and 17th centuries were a time of great discoveries. During his lifetime, Galileo made many important contributions. Born February 15th 1564, died January 8th 1642, his inventions and astronomical findings left a huge impact. Although he is famous for numerous discoveries, two of his most significant contributions are the creation of the telescope and his belief and attempt to educate others on Copernicisum (the belief that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the universe).

Galileo, the son of Vincenzo and Guila, was born on February 15th, 1564 in Pisa, Italy (Galileo Biography; James, 2004). It has been said that Galileo was rude and had very little respect for authority (Cropper, 2001). Whether those authoritative figures were the church, the pope, or even his own parents, Galileo always seemed to disregard what they said; he did what he wanted to do and didn’t care what others thought. For example, it was his dad’s wishes that Galileo went to school to study medicine. Therefore, against his own will, Galileo attended the University of Pisa to study medicine (Bellis, 1997; Galileo Biography; James, 2004) Galileo performed poorly in school and was bored with it. Eventually, despite what his dad told him, Galileo stop attending the university after four years and left with no degree (Bellis, 1997; Galileo Biography; James, 2004). The only thing about school that didn’t bore Galileo was math. In fact, after he dropped out of school, Galileo went on to tutor people in math in order to make money (Cropper, 2001; Galileo Biography; James, 2004). This was just the start of Galileo’s rebellion against authority. As his life went on he continued to disregard what authority said.

Galileo was a free spirit, he never married. However he did form a relationship with a Venetian woman, Maria Gamba (Cropper, 2001; Galileo Biography; James, 2004). Galileo’s mother was not very fond of Maria. However, despite what his mother thought Galileo had three children with Maria, two daughters and a son (Cropper, 2001; Galileo Biography; James, 2004). Once again, this points out Galileo’s disregard for authoritative figures.

Like mentioned, two of Galileo’s greatest contributions to science was the invention of the telescope and his belief in Copernicisum. In the early 1600’s word came to Italy that the Dutch had invented a device that could see great distances, a distance much farther than could be seen by the naked eye (this device would soon be known as the telescope) (Bellis, 1997; Cropper, 2001). Galileo took this news as a challenge and decided he was going to try and make a telescope greater than the one made by Holland. Galileo was quite successful and used his telescope to start studying the world through an astronomical perspective. (Bellis, 1997; Cropper, 2001; Galileo Biography; James, 2004). Although the telescope in itself was a huge contribution, what was even bigger is what he discovered/observed