Galileo was born near Pisa, on February 15, 1564. His father, Vincenzo Galilei, played an important role in the musical revolution of the time. Vincenzo saw that the inflexible musical theory of the time prevented new forms in music, just like Galileo would come to see that Aristotelian physical theology was limiting scientific inquiry. In Vallombrosa, Galileo was taught by monks, and studied medicine in the University of Pisa in 1581. He soon found interest in philosophy and mathematics, and left the university in 1585 without obtaining a degree. For

Galileo's final book called Discourses Concerning Two New Sciences, was published in Leiden in 1638. It reviewed and refined his earlier theories on motion and the principles of mechanics. The book had tremendous significance, for it would lead Newton to the law of universal gravitation, which linked Kepler's planetary laws with Galileo's mathematical physics. Unfortunately, Galileo became blind before it was published. He died in Arcetri, near Florence, on January 8, 1642.

In 1616, authorities censored Copernican books, and Cardinal Robert Bellarmine told Galileo that he must no longer hold or defend the concept that the earth moves. Galileo remained silent about his beliefs for the next few years, and worked on using his predictions of the positions of Jupiter's satellites to determine longitudes at sea. He also continued his studies of falling bodies, and wrote a book on comets called The Assayer.

Galileo is one of the greatest contributors to the scientific revolution. Some of his most influential contributions lie in the field of physics, founding physics on precise measurements rather than principles and logic. He laid the foundation for modern physics with his discoveries in the motion of falling bodies, his experiments with pendulums, and his theories of mechanical action. He made huge advances in optics with the invention of the telescope, and paved the way for many other discoveries in the fields of astronomy. His contributions to astronomy are possibly his greatest achievement. He discovered evidence to support Copernicus' heliocentric theory, which was revolutionary, and contrary to the geocentric theory commonly believed at the time. Galileo's biggest struggle was to free scientific inquiry from restriction by philosophical and religious interference. His struggles with the Roman Catholic Church marked the start of the modern conflict between science and religion. The Vatican, though barely a political presence in today's world, bore tremendous power during this time. Gailileo's discoveries, they feared, would lead to a more secular, science-related world, that depended less on faith and more on fact. Galileo showed that nature could be understood using reason, and was one of the first to do so. The advancements of scientific and philosophical knowledge, the Vatican thought, would result in a loss of their political power, and therefore withheld knowledge and inquiry from the people. Since the full publication of Galileo's trial documents in the 1870s, entire responsibility for Galileo's condemnation has been placed on the Roman Catholic church. An investigation into Galileo's condemnation was opened by Pope John Paul II in 1979, and in October of 1992 a papal commission ac

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