In the summer of 1609, Galileo's inspiration of improving the telescope was launched. A friend of his, Paolo Spari of Venice, wrote to him, asking him to try and figure out how the invention of the spyglass worked (MacLachlan 46). In his letter, he wrote that Lippershey of Holland had discovered that two lenses, if placed if front of one another, would enable great distances to be seen three to four times closer than usual, but they would only be able to be seen upside down (Levinger 75). Galileo accepted the challenge immediately after he read the note, attempting to discover the principle behind the spyglass, reproduce it, and then f

Galileo had many theories on many topics, but his most important ones were the theory of the falling bodies, the floating bodies, and his theory on planetary motion. The theory of the falling bodies dealt mostly with mathematics and applied to the motion of bodies (Rosen 63). His theory of the falling bodies concurred with Archimedean in that it stated that the speed of falling bodies was proportional to the density of the objects. Galileo once again disagreed with Aristotle, who believed that the speed of falling bodies was proportional to the weight of an object. Galileo experimented, and concluded that if two homologous bodies were dropped at the same time, it would make no difference whether or not they were separate or united with one another and that they rate at which they fell was pretty close (Bernadini 24). In fact, he believed that if there were no air, the objects would fall at the exact same rate. He also published a book on this theory entitled Two New Sciences in which he actually uses scientific fact to prove it, describing in detail exactly how and why he did each experiment (Bernadini 118). On the theory of the floating bodies, Galileo agreed with Archimedes in saying that water exerts an upward thrust on an object immersed in it and the upward force is equal to the weight of the water the object relocates. An object with the same density as water will float on the water's surface. Another theory of Galileo's was on planetary motion, and stated that the earths daily as well as yearly motion caused tides and that the reason for this was because the earth was angled on its axis (MacLachlan 32). This, as usual, was against the ideas of Aristotle and his followers, yet was in total agreement with Copernican and Ptolemy who believed that the sun was the center of the universe and that the earth and other planets revolved around it. The book he published, entitled The Starry Messenger told how Galileo believed that the reason for the moon's illumination was due to sunlight that was being reflected off of Earth (MacLachlan 58).

Galileo Galilei was not only a physicist, but he was a role model in addition. He paved the way for other scientists and helped people who could not get as fine an education as the rich. For example, he had many of his books published in Italian. At the time, most books were published in Latin, and only those with an expensive education could afford them. Galileo said that he wanted to encourage young men who did not have a chance to go to college. Galileo stood up for what he believed in, and that was that people should not always follow what they are taught, especially if there is not any proof behind it. Galileo only made claims of theo

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1833
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)