Galileo Galilei On, February 15, 1564 Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. When Galileo was 12 years old, the family of his moved to Florence, Italy. He then went off to the University of Piza. There he hated it for all they could do was memorize and recite ancient texts. Galileo and his fellow students couldn't ask any questions about the text or the "ancient thinkers"ÃÂ such as Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Galen. His father, a musician named Vincenzo, sent him there. After college, without getting a degree, Galilei started his career as a scientist.
Galileo made many and very useful contributions. His first one was the disproving of Aristotle's belief that bodies of different weights fall at different speeds. He proved this with many experiments at the Leaning Tower of Piza. Another famous contribution of Galileo was his four hundred times greater than two miles away telescope. This is how he saw the moon, the "new"ÃÂ stars, and the four moons revolving around Jupiter.
Galileo Galilei. Portrait by Ottavio Leoni. Detail...
Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Justus Sustermans p...
English: * Description: Tomb of Galileo Galilei (L...Of course all these famous contributions and observations clashed with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church disagreed to all of Galileo's sayings and beliefs. They could not believe in anyone else except Aristotle's beliefs. The church leaders believed that Aristotle was always right. One example was the dilemma over the sun being the center or the earth being the center of the universe. Galileo said that with his telescope, he could tell that the sun is the center of the universe. Aristotle's past beliefs were that the earth was. So who did the church leaders agree with? Aristotle. Yes, the church leaders had to agree with the past, not the present, which had more technology. This led up to the big dilemma. Galileo had to either agree with the...