Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist who opened the worlds eyes to a new way of thinking about the workings of our solar system and astronomy.
He was born in Pisa, Italy, on 15th February 1564 and died 8th January 1642 (aged 77 years old).
Interesting Facts
- Galileo was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician, philosopher and inventor.
- Some of his inventions were telescopes, a compass and a thermometer.
- From 1592 to 1610, he was a professor at the University of Padua. He taught astronomy, geometry and mechanics.
- With the telescopes Galileo invented, he observed the skies and in 1610 he observed objects surrounding Jupiter. These turned out to be Jupiter's four largest satellite moons.
- They were later renamed the Galilean satellites in honor of Galileo himself.
- He was put on trial by the Roman Catholic Church in 1633 because of his theory that the Sun is the center of the solar system and not the Earth.
- In his trial, he was said to have committed heresay against the Church, because the Holy Scripture said that the earth was motionless and was the centre of the universe.
- He was imprisoned and later on, placed on house arrest. He stayed on house arrest until he died.