Galileo Research Paper Galileo Galilei was one of the many philosophers that helped determine how and why the world worked the way it does. He based many of his experiments and theories off the beliefs of another great philosopher, Nicolaus Copernicus. Both of these scientists’ theories went against Aristotle. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher that observed many aspects of our universe. He made many theories, but never conducted experiments to support them. Although proof was never in place, the Roman Catholic Church believed that Aristotle’s theories were facts. Since Galileo went against Aristotle, the Church believed that he was going against their authority and religion. Galileo spent his whole life figuring out why the world does what it does and fighting with the Church to get his ideas across to the world. He was born a versatile open-minded intellectual. Galileo was constantly learning something new and becoming wiser. Galileo’s life was never boring or wasteful. Instead he wondered about things like, “how hot is heat?”.(Fisher, 14) He was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. His family included his father, Vincenzio Galilei, his mother, Giulia Ammannati, two brothers, Michelangelo and Benedetto, and three sisters, Virginia, Livia, and one whose name was not recorded. His father was a merchant and talented musician. His father was also a rebellious thinker. Galileo was influenced by this a great deal. Some of Galileo’s work reflected the opinions from his father about anti-establishment. Galileo had hatred for narrow minded people that also came from his father. His father wanted Galileo to study in the field of medicine. The Galilei family was a poor family and wanted their eldest son to become a rich doctor. He began a relationship in 1592 after he got his job as a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Padua with Marina Gamba. They had three children. Although they had three kids together, Galileo and Marina never got married. Galileo was so involved and interested in his work that he would never be devoted to a family. He was always able to provide for them but never had an interest in settling down. (White, 32)
Even though he wasn’t a family man, he came to be considered the father of modern science. In Galileo’s first eleven years of life, he had been taught by his father and a series of tutors at home. When it was time for Galileo to have a better academic education, his choices of where to go were complicated. His father couldn’t trust many of the foundations that were available. Vincenzio couldn’t even think about sending his eldest to one of them, in fear that they might brainwash him. Instead Vincenzio moved the family to Florence, which was a large city east of Pisa. Once there Galileo was sent to a monastery school because his father was not able to pay for education. Within three years Vinenzio was convinced that he had to take his son from the school. He was horrified when he had found out Galileo had volunteered himself as a novice monk. Alternatively Vencenzio brought Galileo home to further his studies in Florence. This was one of the several disagreements between Galileo and his father. They never came to an understanding with each other about Galileo’s career course. In 1581, however, Galileo gave in to his father’s wishes. When Galileo was seventeen he became a medical student at the University of Pisa. Becoming a rich doctor was Galileo’s career in his father’s eyes. In his spare time at home Galileo loved to play music, paint, and write. While attending the university he took up several mathematic classes in his spare time. Because Galileo was so interested in the science of physics, matter, energy, motion, and force, he gave up his study of medicine and became a mathematic undergraduate in his first term. Galileo was one to speak his views clearly and argue for them. He was well liked by other students and gained a reputation. With this reputation came the nickname Il Attaccabrighe , “The Wrangler”. Three years after he had enrolled as a medical student, a lamp swinging caught his attention. This made him realize the law of the pendulum. He got instant fame from the academic world because of this observation. Christian Huygens, a Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, was one of many to use Galileo’s findings useful. He applied Galileo’s discovery to install a pendulum to regulate a clock in 1657. Unfortunately Galileo was not able to graduate from the university. He left in 1585, without a degree at the age of twenty-one. The reason for this was because his poor family had become even more financially unstable to continue his schooling. He was never offered a scholarship because his professors had grown tired of his continuous ranting about the belief that the sun was the center of the universe. His professors were only several of the many narrow minded people that believed that the Bible and the ancients were the ones that were right.
Although he never graduated, Galileo was appointed as a professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa when he was twenty-five. (White, 19-20) This was partially because he had a reputation from one of his devices that helped people identify gold, silver, and other important metals. This was in addition to his discovery of the pendulum. Galileo experimented with floating objects and created the hydrostatic balance. This cool tool was able to accurately measure the gravity of a piece of a material. With this useful gadget the identities of gold, silver, copper, and tin were able to be established easier. (Fisher, 9) This device called the hydrostatic balance came from Archimedes’ discovery. The other part had to deal with his influential friend Marquis Guidobaldo del Monte. Marquis was able to persuade the university to hire him. (White, 19-20) Soon after he began teaching, he made enemies. These enemies were angered by Galileo challenging Aristotle’s 2,000 year old theory that they believed in. One of Galileo’s experiments that displeased these enemies is the dropping of two balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He was trying to prove that if two objects of different weight fell, the heavier one would not reach the ground first. So at 179 feet above the ground, he had his assistants let go of the balls at the same height. Now at the bottom of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, professors and students that had come along seen the two balls land together. Although the balls landed at the same time Aristotle’s followers refused to believe what they saw. After this experiment Galileo was being advised that his contract would more than likely not be renewed after his three-year term. While he was still teaching at the university, Vincenzio, his father, died in the winter of 1591 unexpectedly. This tragedy left Galileo the “man” of the family. With this responsibility came the control of his family’s welfare too. Since he didn’t have a job anymore, he had no way to provide for the family. To make the situation worse, Vincenzio had promised Virginia a large dowry. When Galileo had no employment his friend Marquis came to his rescue once again. His wealthy friend found him a job as a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Padua. Less than a year after his father’s death, Galileo had already moved and started working at Padua with a salary three times larger. With this chunk of money, Galileo was able to provide for his family and even began paying off the promised dowry. (White, 25-29)
Not long after he had started his job at the University of Padua did he start experimenting again. This time he altered the Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment, instead of falling, rolling. He constructed a chute that a ball could roll down at a certain angle and instead of using his pulse, he designed a barrel to drip water from. This barrel was used to keep track of how long it took the ball to roll down the chute. Galileo repeated this experiment numerous times, and noticed a pattern. Eventually Galileo figured out that falling or rolling objects gradually gain speed. It was then that he came up with the idea of acceleration. He used his rolling balls to prove it. Galileo also conducted a simple “thought experiment” about projectiles. In this experiment Galileo stated that if you drop a ball from the mast of a ship then it will land at the bottom of the mast and not partway along the deck even if the ship’s moving. So this meant that the ball is not only experiencing gravity, but also has the same forward motion as the ship. Galileo expanded on this idea of projectiles and went to explain a cannonball. He showed that when the cannonballs are projected, gravity acts on them and they fall to the ground gradually instead of the idea that they fall in a straight line to the ground. (White, 32-40) In July of 1609, Galileo was forty-five and had gone to his friend Paolo Sarpi’s in Venice to visit. While there Paolo had mentioned to Galileo about a Dutch spectacle-maker that had made his own telescope. Paolo broke down the parts of the telescope for Galileo. Galileo listened intently and was soon so intrigued he rushed home to build one of his own versions. Many different designs began to arise, but none had very good quality. They all gave a fuzzy image and had low magnification. Galileo’s mind was focused to improve that. He made a few fairly simplified modifications and had produced a device with an ability to project a clear image. Most of the other telescopes could produce three times the magnification and his could produce nine times. At first he had got an offer from the Doge of Venice that offered him permanent post at the university in exchange for the telescope. Galileo wasn’t very fond of this idea though. He was comfortable in Padua, but was also restless to get his support and works into a bigger city. On the other it was the only offer at the time so he took it. This contract was altered from what the Doge had promised so Galileo immediately began to look for other options. He heard of a vacant position at Florence and decided to visit the ruler of Florence to show off his telescope. The Grand Duke Cosimo was impressed and said for Galileo to move there as soon as possible. It wasn’t until September 1610 that Galileo was able to move to Florence. With his telescope Galileo had made many outer space discoveries. He figured out the moon was not an unblemished sphere, which is what Aristotle thought, but instead had craters and mountains taller than the ones on Earth. He also found that Jupiter had moons that orbited just like Earth's moon. One of his monumental calculations was how Venus has phases just like Earth’s moon. This identification means that the light is being reflected from the sun. With that evidence Galileo was able to conclude that the planets are the ones orbiting around the sun while the sun stays in place. Another theory Galileo was able to prove wrong was Scheiner’s, a German Jesuit and dedicated Aristotelian, idea that the sun was unblemished. As soon as Galileo heard he began to take his own shots of the sun and totally demolished Scheiner’s theory. Scheiner thought he was right and because of Galileo’s rebuttal against him, he relied on his religion and philosophy to back him up. Also a young priest, Thomas Caccini, had anti-scientific sermons and specifically said that Galileo was an enemy of true faith. This was actually very painful for Galileo. He had always considered himself a devoted Catholic, true supporter, and he never questioned God. He thought of himself, not as a heretic, but instead a thinker who wanted to show others out of the darkness of blind faith.(White, 41- 51)
All because of these two men who were trying to prove him wrong and ruin him, made Galileo lose his temper with Aristotelians. This intense conflict let him slip and announce publicly that he sided with Copernicus. His charm was not enough this time to help him. The dispute caught the attention of the authorities in Rome. In the spring of 1615 Galileo was called to Rome to “take back” his support for Nicolaus Copernicus. The first time Galileo visited the pope’s representative he decided to withdraw his support and agreed that he wouldn’t teach these theories. The situation was calm for a while until 1618. Three comets appeared in the sky and a Jesuit scientist claimed the paths of these fireballs were straight and a few other schemes that made them fit perfectly in Aristotle’s idea of Earth being the center. Galileo couldn’t resist and came out with yet another book explaining the actual paths and reasons why using Copernicus’ idea. After this Galileo’s world began to fall to pieces. Because of this Rome called him back to “visit” them in 1624 as a sixty-year –old man. He never gave in and always fought for his beliefs, but was also never able to “win”. He tried and fought very hard and had a good protection system. He had a network of friends in support of him and helped calm the pope for a while. His friends and the pope came to agree that Galileo would never teach Copernicus’ ideas again. But the pope tossed in a surprise and if Galileo wanted to be a free man then he had to write a book. This book would include a fair argument between Aristotle and Copernicus, but in the end Galileo had to agree with Aristotle. Galileo had no choice but to agree if he wanted to be a free man. Nine years after instructed Galileo wrote the book, but obviously agreed with Copernicus in the end. This sent him once again to Rome. He was tried as a criminal. His friends once again worked stubbornly to help him. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest. He lived in a small house outside of Florence and was guarded twenty-four hours a day. All his books were banned and if he tried to sell or distribute them the penalty was death. In Galileo’s ongoing trial with the Church, he became very exhausted. He had become ill before the trial and was not granted permission to get medical treatment. He came down with an infection and after a while with his friends help got permission for a doctor to come see him. In 1637, Galileo was struck again, but this time with an eye infection that eventually left him blind. Along with sickness, Galileo became very tired of defending Copernicus which seemed almost impossible to win anyway. Aristotle’s theories had been in place for almost 2000 years. Not only was the length extensive, these theories fit in with the Bible’s teaching. This agreement made for a persuasive way for people to believe in Aristotle’s theories especially if you were said to be a “true” Christian. Galileo was weak and resentful of his imprisonment. Galileo Galilei died a blind man despised by his peers and alone in his sleep on January 8, 1642.
Not only did Galileo fight for his beliefs, he experimented and proved them right. Even with these persuasive tactics, he didn’t win over the Church and its followers until the second Vatican Council that was in 1962 which was about 300 years after he had died. Galileo’s famous works was the road map for many other philosophers and scientists including another famous philosopher Sir Isaac Newton. Galileo discovered and came up with countless exploits that were all involved with the science world. His greatest contribution though was the fight he had for the position of science in the world. Galileo had been trying for his whole life to let people think clearly about how science works. Along with his attempt came success because he, although dead, eventually paved the way for human thought. With this process growing more and more each century, the Roman Catholic Church was not able to control the spreading of enlightenment. Science and Galileo were the ones who brought forth “The Age of Enlightenment”. Once this era started it branched out fast and reached across the entire civilized world.

Bibliography
Books
White, Michael; Galileo Galilei; Blackbirch Press, Inc.; Woodbridge, Connecticut; 1999(pgs.5-62)
Fisher, Leonard Everett;l Galileo; Macmillan Publishing Company; New York; 1992(6-34)
Linda K. Glover, Andrew Chaikin, Patricia S. Daniels, Andrea Gianopoulos, and Jonathan T. Malay; National Geographic Encyclopedia; National Geographic; Washington, D.C. (pgs.32-37, 118, 132-133)
Web Sites
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Fi-Gi/Galileo.html