One of the most well-known names in history, Galileo Galilei was a pioneer in astronomy, mathematics and physics. Alive during an age of new ideas, Galileo was an undisputed leader of the scientific revolution. Pioneering in the fields of celestial observation, heliocentrism, and kinematics, amongst a plethora of others, he made a lasting impression on the world. This impression was not always in his favor, though, leaving him the victim of a Catholic Church reeling from the Protestant Reformation, who sentenced him to house arrest for his work. Galileo’s life and scientific work was shaped by the times that he lived in, first by inspiring and aiding his discoveries, and then by hindering his further exploration.
Born in the northern Italian …show more content…
Unlike many of his day, Galileo relied on actual observation of what he was investigating to prove its validity. Others of his time just interpreted classical philosopher’s works and didn’t bother to prove the statements they were making.5 Through his studies of falling objects, Galileo disproved Aristotle’s theory that the speed of a heavier object falling is faster than a lighter object’s speed.6 Galileo found this theory to be completely inaccurate, and maintained that any two objects starting at the same height will reach the ground at different time independent of any earthly characteristics and only because of the effects of air friction.6 According to this theory, in a perfect vacuum two objects dropped from the same height will reach the ground at the same time because there is no effect of air friction. This theory was definitively confirmed during the 1960’s Apollo mission using a wrench and a feather in the vacuum of space.6 Besides this Galileo studies led to the discovery of the concept of inertia. Using balls rolling down ramps, he observed that moving downwards meant the ball’s speed was increasing while moving up the ramps the ball’s speed decreased.5 From these two observations he deduced that an object on a flat surface would not have a change in speed because it remains at the same distance from the center of the Earth if friction was not a factor.5 These findings are summarized in two works, De Motu (1590), which focuses on the critique of Aristotle’s theories and in Le Mecaniche (1600).3 In addition to these early contributions, Galileo had significant findings after his extensive work in astronomy on the theory of relativity. In his 1632 work Dialogues on the Two Chief World Systems, argues that all objects on Earth have the same circular motion, so the only motion that is able to be observed is in addition to this motion. In his even later