Galileo Galilei | |
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Born | 15 February 1564[1] Pisa,[1] Duchy of Florence, Italy |
Died | 8 January 1642 (aged 77)[1] Arcetri,[1] Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy |
Residence | Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy |
Nationality | Italian (Tuscan) |
Fields | Astronomy, physics and mathematics |
Institutions | University of Pisa University of Padua |
Alma mater | University of Pisa |
Academic advisors | Ostilio Ricci[2] |
Notable students | Benedetto Castelli Mario Guiducci Vincenzo Viviani[3] |
Known for | Kinematics Dynamics Telescopic observational astronomy Heliocentrism |
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Notes His father was the musician Vincenzo Galilei. Galileo Galilei's mistress Marina Gamba (1570 – 21 August 1612?) bore him two daughters (Maria Celeste (Virginia, 1600–1634) and Livia (1601–1659), both of whom became nuns) and a son Vincenzo (1606–1649), a lutenist. |
His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments.
Galileo's championing of heliocentrism was controversial within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system.[9] He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax.[9] The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, and they concluded that it could be supported as only a possibility, not an established fact.[9][10] Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point.[9] He was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.[11][12] It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he wrote one of his finest works, Two New Sciences, in which he summarised the work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials
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