Galileo Galilei

STARTERS (:

born on February15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy His father sent him to the University of Pisa to

study medicine, but he was more interested in science and math. Against his father's wishes, he gave up medicine to study mathematics

Italian born professor of Mathematics served as a professor at the University of Padua Became blind in 1637, died on January 8 1942 -was the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a

famous lutenist and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati

Galileo did not actually invent the telescope himself. Rather he heard about the invention, designed his own, and was

the first to turn it towards the heavens. He is therefore widely given credit for inventing the astronomical telescope.

His first telescope was a very poor telescope by modern standards. A modern child's toy telescope will produce better images. It however still produced images of the heavens vastly superior to anything else available in

Galileo's time. He was therefore able to make many new discoveries with his telescope.

Galileo also observed the sun with his telescope, which caused him to go blind. He then discovered small dark spots on the surface of the Sun, which we now call sunspots. Like the Moon, the Sun's surface is also blemished.

His drawings of sunspots

-Prior to Galileo's time, scientists and philosophers thought that the Moon must be a perfect sphere because Aristotelian physics, taught by the ancient Greeks, decreed that any objects in the heavens must be unchanging perfect unblemished spheres

-Galileo’s telescope for the first time revealed that the Moon was blemished and imperfect. Galileo discovered a surface pockmarked with craters. He also discovered relatively smooth areas that he called maria (singular: mare), which derives from the Latin word for seas. Galileo thought the surface of the Moon had seas just like Earth's surface.

One of his drawings of the moon (:

-When Galileo observed Jupiter he discovered its four largest Moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. These moons are named the “Medicean stars”

More discoveries

*sidetrack* Mèdici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century

Discovery of Jupiter’s orbiting moons around it prove that Earth was not the only body with objects in orbit around it.

HELIOCENTRIC (:

Developed the first rough theory of inertia, which suggested that only a change in motion required a cause; otherwise, objects either stayed in motion or remained at rest.

More discoveries

Ultimately delivered the first well-defined formulas that accounted for the normal motion of objects on moving earth

If a uniform force was applied to an object, it would move at an accelerated speed rather than a constant speed

Principle of inertia: body in motion continues in motion forever unless deflected by an external force

-When Galileo turned his telescope towards the Milky Way, he observed that it was composed of a vast number of stars to faint to be seen individually with the naked eye. We now know that it is the plane of our galaxy. Prior to this observation, ancient Greeks believed that there were a small number of fixed stars.

-Also made discoveries on the centre of gravity in solids, and pendulums, and his parabola discoveries subsequently made a science out of gunnery, and aided greatly in the use of cannons used in warfare of the time.

-He invented a horse-drawn pump and a thermoscope.

-He built his own 32 power telescope that enabled him to see the moon's mountains, the starry nature of the Milky Way, and previously undiscovered objects revolving around Jupiter.

-Using his telescope, Galileo observed mountains on the moon and spots on the sun, once again again disproving Aristotle's theory that the contents of the heavens were perfect.

Galileo’s drawings of a thermoscope (:

(x) MATH MATH AND MORE MATH

-combination of small, practical experiments + ideal cases drawn up

(x) INNOVATIVE MIND

- rather than using the telescope on earthly sight, he pointed it at the night sky ( where he observed sunspots)

(x) Great skil in debate + Naming of “Medicean Stars”

- Influential family to support Galileo Able to pursue work on Astronomy+ conviction that heliocentric model is correct

(x) Experiments

- he demonstrated by experiments the principle of motion

Basically, he used a lot of math. He articulated the concept of a universe subject to mathematical laws. More than any other writer of the century, he argued that nature displayed mathematical regularity in its most minute details.

His contributions and how it impacts scientific revolution

Earth was not flat, but round. This discovery led to the discovery of gravity by Newton

discovered the law of the pendulum Galileo’s lifelong struggle to free scientific inquiry

from restriction by philosophical and theological interference

discovered four moons on Jupiter using a telescope on January 7, 1610

discovered that the planet Venus went through phases like the moon. This revealed that the moon revolves around Venus, and Venus revolves around the sun.

His contributions and how it impacts scientific revolution

transformed physics from a plausible framework erected on casual observations of complex everyday experiences into a method whereby experiences were simplified and their underlying structures or patterns became tractable in geometrical terms and susceptible to precise measurement

RELIGION AND SCIENCE, incompatible?Short s

idetrack (:

Galileo tried to argue his case, and convinced the church that science and religion can work together:

# If church refuse to accept “new science” , church’s authority would suffer

# church only save souls, don’t have the power to explain the physical world. Natural philosophers(solid mathematical explanations) would be more qualified to explain.

# Bible, a notoriously difficult book. Church’s theologians would be able to reconcile the complex language of the Bible with the new conclusions of natural philosophers.

# They are partners in search of the truth.

“Churches tell us how to go to heaven, not how heaven goes.”

Church’s Response

The Catholic Church prohibited the heliocentric theory’s advocacy as a proven fact, because there were no empirical results that supported the hypothesis.

Moreover, it was contrary to the literal meaning of Scripture.

Galileo was summoned to Rome by the Inquisition to stand trial for “grave suspicion of heresy”, by writing a pro-Copernican book.

Charged with 2 dangers attacks on the authority of church

(x) promoting copernicanism(x) insulting old patron Barberini

Church’s Response

His book was placed on the Index, a list of books banned by the Church.

Galileo was eventually forced to recant and spent the last years of his life under house arrest, forbidden to correspond with friends or, significantly, with any Protestants, on orders of the Roman Inquisition.

THE END (:

Acknowledgements

http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=25095, 16 feb 09 http://au.encarta.msn.com/

encyclopedia_761557587_2/Galileo_(scientist).html, 16 feb 09

http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/wjwpg2/Sciencerev/science.htm, 16 feb 09

http://google.sg http://wikipedia.org