Galileo Galilei facts

7/30/2019 Galileo Galilei facts

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Galileo galileiGalileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, philosopher,

mathematician, astronomer and designer who played a major

role in the Scientific Revolution. He was born in Pisa, February

15, 1564 and died in Arcetri, near Florence, January 8, 1642.

Among his technical achievements, he perfected the

telescope, which allowed him to make observations that have

changed the discipline. He thus established a strong advocate

of the Copernican conception of the universe, heliocentrism,

and was then struck to criticism from supporters of

geocentrism and from the Roman Catholic Church. He

discovered four of Jupiters moons almost four hundred yearsago.

Slide rule. His first full publication in 1606 Il compasso militare e

geometrico was written to defend his invention against a similar

device invented in Milan by Baldassare Capra. Printed advertising

is not an invention of our time.

Reinforced magnet. In the Dialogue of 1632 (third day), he

described how in his opinion the reinforcement should augment the

magnetic force. If you havent heard of it, dont worry, it doesnt

work.

Microscope.Galileocalled it Occhialino (little glasses), but

Giovanni Faber of the Academia dei Lincei coined the namemicroscope for it. The principle of how a microscope works were

worked on since about 1600 and several other people had

constructed one prior to Galileo. The invention of the first

microscope, though, is attributed to Hans and Sacharias Janssen in

Middelburg in 1590.

Jovilabium. The device would have allowed seamen to compute
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their longitudinal position with the help of Jupiters moons. The

Dutch government had set out a prize of 30,000 guilders to the

inventor of a precise method to do just that, but Galileo never

managed to claim the sum despite several tries.

Thermometer. His thermometer worked but was not too precise.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit would perfect it tofully working instrument in 1710.

Hydrostatic balance. This device allowed measuring the specific

weight of objects.

Pendulum clock. He brought the theory to paper, but never built

it. His son Vincenzo started building it, but didnt finish it before he

died. The invention is therefore attributed to Dutch scientist

ChristiaanHuygensas the first patent holder.Swiss Army Knife. Only in drawing, Galileo combined a hair comb

with spoon and knife. Maybe some basic idea about hygiene made

him desist from building and using it.

Tube telescope. The lens based tube telescope was not an

invention by Galileo, and he never claimed it as his invention. The

myth of him being its inventor was propagated by variousliterary inventions; the most influential of these was probably Bertolt

Brechts drama which was used to produce several films. Tube

telescopes appeared from three different lens making shops in the

Netherlands all at about the same time; Hans Lipperhey from

Middelburg and Jacob Metius from Alkmaar applied for a patent,

while Sacharias Janssen was already selling it at the Frankfurt Fair.

Horse drawn pump. Galileo was granted a patent on

his horse drawn water pump.
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Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein is possibly the most famous scientist who

ever lived! He was a theoretical physicist and

mathematician, and a genius. One of his better known

achievements was the mass-energy equivalence equation:

E = mc2. Einstein developed the theory of relativity and he

won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his work on the

photoelectric effect.

His contributions amounted to a radical change in world

view. Before Einstein, certain things were simply assumed

to be true. Among them were the "laws" gravity and falling

bodies as they had been outlined by Isaac Newton. Also, it

was generally believed that 'time' itself was a physical

constant: Everyone and everything would experience the

passage of time the same way as everyone and everything

else. His theory of special relativity predicted that this was

not true, and was later validated by experiments withatomic clocks.

Einstein's work shows that while Newton's equations work

for moving objects that are part of our observed world,

including the planets, the concepts of velocity, gravity and

time work much differently when you are dealing with the

speed of light. Mass and time change in amazing wayswhen objects approach the speed of light.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm,

Wrttemberg, Germany. He later renounced his German

citizenship, and became a Swiss citizen in 1901. In 1900,

Einstein attained a degree in physics at ETH Zrich -- the


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Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (FIT) in Zurich. He

received a doctorate from the University of Zrich in 1905.

Einstein married Mileva Mari in 1903 and later divorced

her. They had three children (two sons and a daughter). In

1919, he married his cousin Elsa Lwenthal.

Einstein fled Germany in 1933 to escape the Nazis becausehe was a pacifist and a Jew. He became a US citizen in

1940. Einstein died on April 18, 1955 (aged 76), in

Princeton, New Jersey, US.

Atomic Bomb

It is considered as one of the notable inventions byEinstein. Answer to the question whether Einstein himself

invented the atomic bomb, is not that straightforward. The

equation e=mc, formulated by him played an important

role in the development of this nuclear weapon. As per the

equation e=mc, mass and energy are interchangeable to

a certain extent. Einstein however, was not a part of theteam which developed the atom bomb. He had written a

letter to the US President Roosevelt urging him to build the

atomic bomb before the invasive Germans attempted to do

so. He however, condemned the use of atomic bomb by

USA - which led to destruction in Hiroshima.

Einstein RefrigeratorIt is an absorption refrigerator which makes use of heat for

running/fueling the cooling system. Albert Einstein

invented this refrigerator jointly with Leo Szilard, a former

student. The Einstein Refrigerator was patented on 11th

November, 1930. Objective of Einstein and Szilard in

developing this refrigerator was to make improvements in


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the home refrigeration technology. News of an accident,

which took place due to breaking of a refrigerator seal was

the reason why Einstein and Szilard tried to find a safe

alternative. Specialty of the Einstein Refrigerator is that it

doesn't incorporate any moving parts.

Photoelectric EffectIn a paper on the subject of photoelectric effect, Einstein

stated that light is made up of particles. It was also stated

that these light particles (photons) contain energy. Energy

present in photons is proportional to that of frequency of

radiation. The relation between energy and radiation

frequency is presented with the help of a formula, E=hu.In this formula, 'E' stands for energy while 'u' symbolizes

frequency of radiation. The symbol 'h' denotes Planck's

constant. Earlier, it was considered that light traveled in

the form of waves. The discovery and studies made by

Einstein helped in understanding some of these basic

concepts of physics. The concept of quantumrevolutionized the study of physics. Albert Einstein was

awarded the Nobel Prize in the year 1921 for his research

on the subject of photoelectric effect.

The Special Theory of Relativity

This theory was developed by Albert Einstein in his

attempt to reconcile the laws of electromagnetic field withthose of classical mechanics. The essence or core of this

theory incorporate two fundamental concepts. The first

concept is that the uniform motion is always relative.

Second concept is that 'the state of rest' cannot be defined

i.e. it is not absolute. The special theory of relativity was

presented by Einstein in a paper titled 'On the


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Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies' in 1905.

General Theory of Relativity

The explanations about 'The General Theory of Relativity'

had all started with a postulate presented by Einstein.

Research about the Theory of Relativity is amongst the

important accomplishments of Albert Einstein. Theimportant postulate of Einstein can be quoted as follows,

"gravitational fields are equivalent to accelerations of the

frame of reference". This postulate can be elaborated with

the help following example. People in an elevator (which is

descending) are unable to understand which force

(gravitation or acceleration of elevator) actually governstheir own motion.

The inventions of Albert Einstein inventions and his

theories were of great help to scientists of 20th century.

The theory of relativity as proposed by this famous

scientist can be considered a milestone in the history of

scientific development. Information about these inventionsand theories should help readers gain an insight into the

important works of Albert Einstein.


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Galileo Galilei facts

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