Galileo Galilei, the Founder of Modern Science

Introduction

“I never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” – Galileo Galilei.

I think that this quote means no matter how much smarter you think you are then someone they might still know something that you don’t. I think this relates to my thesis because we both of us think you can learn something from anyone. Galileo Galilei was a important person and influential figure in history that had a positive effect on the world because he was the founder of the of modern science.

The Start of Scientific Career

Galileo Galilei was born February 15 1564 in Pisa Italy his father was Vincenzo Galilei and his mother was Giulia di Cosimo Ammannati. Galileo Galilei studied at University of Pisa as well as the University of Bologna when he was studying at the University his father had him go there to study medicine but instead he choose to study Mathematics. In the summer of 1581 Galileo enrolls in the University of Pisa to get a degree in the medical field. In 1585 Galileo leaves the university without his degree in the medical field. Galileo gets a job to lecture mathematics at the University of Pisa.

One of Galileo’s greatest influences was Copernicus he was the founder of the heliocentric, theory. Another person who greatly influenced Galileo was Aristotle who had a theory that everything beyond was smooth, perfect, and eternal but Galileo used his new telescope to see that unlike Aristotle’s theory the moon wasn’t smooth, perfect but instead bumpy and rocky so he began to find more faults in Aristotle’s theory. One thing that started Galileo’s career was that he was a mathematics teacher that had an interest in astronomy. Galileo built his first telescope in 1609. He learned how to make a well functioning telescope. After Galileo published his book Dialogues concerning the Two Great World Systems the inquisition banned it shortly after and order him to to Rome for trial while he was in house arrest in 1634 his daughter Maria Celestia died then he made his final book Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations concerning Two New Sciences which he had someone smuggle it out of Italy so it could be published in Holland.

Achievements

Galileo became famous/influential for his telescopes, astronomy ideas, philosophy ideas, and his mathematics. One of Galileo’s accomplishments was making a telescope he used one of them and found some of Jupiter’s moons. Galileo used one of his telescopes to develop the Copernican system. Galileo wrote a book about nature written in math.

Another one of Galileo’s accomplishments were how he discovered that Venus goes through phases just like the moon does. Galileo made a telescope that could magine up to 20 times. He became one of the very first people to look at the moon through a telescope. He used his discovery about the four moons circling Jupiter to as well study Saturn which helped him study Venus’s phases.He created a telescope that could magnify up to 20 times of what the normal telescope could. Galileo gets put in prison for 3 weeks and after his third interrogation he’s put under house arrest.

The world’s now different because of them since he figured out Jupiters stages and discovered the four moons circling Jupiter. His field changed since he made a telescope that could magnify up to 20 times.

Conclusion

Galileo was very hard working so he would always accomplish his work no matter what others said. I can apply these lessons to my life because he accomplished these things because he was hard working so I could be more hardworking. Despite the fact that he shunned for his ideas he still wrote books about them and talked about them even though he wasn’t supposed to. I choose Galileo since he was someone I already knew a bit about so I knew it would make it easier to write about for me.