Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei, was an Italian physicist, astronomer, and philosopher who is closely associated with the scientific revolution. Galileo was born in Pisa, in the Tuscan region of Italy in 1564.His father was a mathematician and musician. Galileo was home schooled at a very young age. After that he attended the University of Pisa but was forced to cease his study there for financial reasons. However, he was offered a position on its faculty in 1589 and taught mathematics. Soon after, he moved to the University of Padua, and served on its faculty teaching geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610. During this time he explored science and made many landmark discoveries.

He was one of the first people to use the telescope to observe the sky, and for a time was one of very few people able to make a telescope good enough for the purpose. Based on sketchy descriptions of telescopes invented in the Netherlands in 1608, Galileo made one with about 8x magnification, and then made improved models up to about 20x. Galileo was one of the first Europeans to observe sunspots.

By 1616 the attacks on Galileo had reached the head of the Roman Church, and he went to Rome to try to persuade the Church authorities not to ban his ideas. The Inquisition ordered him not to “hold or defend” the idea that the Earth moves and the Sun stands still at the center. In 1633 Galileo was arrested on suspicion of heresy. According to the sentence of the Inquisition Galileo’s ideas were condemned as “formally heretical”, he was put on a house arrest, publication of his works was forbidden.

His contribution to the science is invaluable. His achievements include improvements to the telescope, a variety of astronomical observations, the first law of motion, the second law of motion, and effective support for Copernicanism. He has been referred to as the “father of modern astronomy,” as the “father of modern physics,” and as “father of science.” Galileo’s career coincided with that of Johannes Kepler. The work of Galileo is considered to be a significant break from that of Aristotle. In addition, his conflict with the Roman Catholic Church is taken as a major early example of the conflict of authority and freedom of thought, particularly with science in Western society.

Associate	нагадувати, асоціюватись
To observe	спостерігати
Sketchy descriptions	схематичний опис
To invent	винаходити
To persuade	переконувати
Magnification	збільшення
Sunspots	сонячні плями
On suspicion	за підозрою
Sentence	вирок
Achievements	досягнення
To coincide	співпадати

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16