Galileo
Galileo is known as science's most dramatic character. He is known as a rebel philosopher who advocated free though in a country where individual opinion was detested. He confronted authority and tradition by putting his beliefs in his scientific work before those of religion. His concept of questioning and searching for the truth led to many discoveries such as the isochronism of the pendulum, disapproving the accepted Aristotelian concept of the fall of weights, construction of the telescope which was a far more powerful instrument that anyone had ever seen and through it he discovered satellites of Jupiter as well as many others....... Born of an in Pisa, Tuscan on February 15, 1564, Galileo was the oldest son of Vincenzio Galilei. (Book Galileo, page 59) When he was a young boy his family moved to Florence where he received his early education in a nearby monastery. Then in 1581 he was sent to the University of Pisa to study medicine. Galileo had little interest in medicine and found his classes boring. But his active and curious mind led him into the world of science. He was sitting in the cathedral at Pis while the lamps were being lighted. He noticed that the lamps were swinging and some had wider arcs then others. He e
The first sign of him being a rebel was shown when he decided to leave medical school without a degree and return to Florence against his father's wishes. He decided to make the mathematical subjects and philosophy his profession. During this time he designed a new form of hydrostatic balance for weighing small quantities and wrote, La Bilancetta ("The Little Balance") that circulated as a manuscript among his friends describing his work. (http://www.britannica.com /eb/article?eu=108035&tocid=8440) This brought him to the notice of scientific circles in Florence and began to establish his reputation as a mathematician. In the spring of 1609, Galileo's life took a dramatic turn. He heard that in the Netherlands and instrument had been invented that showed distant things as though they were near by. Through trial and error, he quickly figured out the secret of the invention and made his own three powered spyglass from lenses for sale in spectacle makers shops. It is a combination of two lenses, on plane concave and the other inside a tube. The lenses are placed with one close to the eye (ocular) and the other at the end of the tube (objective). (http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/museo/ a/ecannoc.html) He had improved the instrument by increasing its enlarging power and gave it an upright image which transformed it into a tool used for astronomical research. It was named the telescope. In August of that year he presented an eight powered instrument to the Venetian Senate and was rewarded with life tenure and his salary was doubled. With this new discovery many men would have been content to sit back and rest and take life easy. This was not Galileo's way. He continued to ask questions and to experiment. He was able to construct a microscope that magnified the image thirty times. It was with this instrument that he began to examine the heavens and make a series of discoveries that were to make him famous. What Galileo saw when he used the telescope astronomically astounded him. At every turn, whichever way he looked, cracks appeared in the fabric of the Aristotelian cosmos. (Book) Every observation showed him something new, every observation showed vis
Some common words found in the essay are:
Messenger Galileo, University Padua, University Pisa, Venetian Senate, Roman Catholic, , Starry Messenger, University Piza, Catholic Church, Motu Motion, copernican theories, starry messenger, roman catholic, roman catholic church, catholic church,
Approximate Word count = 1461
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
