Galileo Galilei

Top7 is where your favorites lead you to

Discover What You'll Love Next.

#10

People Who Most Influenced our World

Scientists

Nationality:

Italian (Tuscan)

Known For:

Kinematics Dynamics Telescopic observational astronomy Heliocentrism

Religion:

Roman Catholic

Birth Place:

Pisa, Duchy of Florence, Italy

Death place:

Arcetri, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy

People who love Galileo Galilei also love:

The Top7 Taste Machine

#10

in People Who Most Influenced our World

Ranked by 269 people

Top ranked in this topic:

Jesus, Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler

in Scientists

Ranked by 18 people

Rebecca Weiss: He knew better than everyone and didnt listen to the naysayers.

Top ranked in this topic:

Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton

in Greatest Heroes in History (Real People Only)

Ranked by 9 people

Top ranked in this topic:

Albert Einstein, Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr.

#311

in People I Would Invite to a Dinner Party

Ranked by 1 people

Top ranked in this topic:

Johnny Depp, Dean Winchester, David Tennant

297

Times Ranked

TopScore

About
Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 - 8 January 1642), commonly known as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philo... (more)

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 - 8 January 1642), commonly known as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism.  Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science". According to Stephen Hawking, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science".

His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments. 

Galileo's championing of heliocentrism was controversial within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, and they concluded that it could only be supported as a possibility, not as an established fact. Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he wrote one of his finest works, Two New Sciences. Here he summarized the work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.  (less)

See more on:

Wikipedia

Amazon