4/9/2023 0 Comments And yet it moves quote![]() ![]() Around 1615, his advocacy of the heliocentric model got him into trouble with the Catholic Church (and some of his fellow astronomers). In 1592 he moved to Padua and started teaching geometry, mechanics, and astronomy, and until 1610 would conduct much of his theoretical and applied science work. He got a position as an instructor in the Florence Academy of Drawing Arts (Accademia delle Arti del Disegno) in 1588, and as the chair of mathematics at the university in Pisa in 1589. Galileo spent the next 10 or so years studying math, physics, and fine art. One geometry lesson later (which he attended “accidentally”) and Galileo was asking his father to let him study mathematics and natural philosophy instead - which Vincenzo agreed to.ĪLSO READ: Scientists say the human brain resembles the cosmos When visiting home, he set up a pair of pendulums to study their properties. Although he tried to keep away from mathematics up to this point (physicians were better paid than mathematicians), he was enraptured with the chandelier’s motion. He saw that no matter how much it would tilt one way or another, the chandelier would always take the same time to swing back around. He attended courses there for at least a year, and during this time he would have a chance encounter that would impact all of humanity - Galileo saw a swinging chandelier. However, more practical matters (such as making it rain) weighed more heavily on his father’s mind, so he convinced Galileo to enroll for a medical degree at the University of Pisa in 1580. ![]() He learned to play the lute and the principles of music theory from his father, and in his young days toyed with the idea of becoming a priest. Galileo (born Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei in 1564’s Pisa, Italy) was the son of lute-player and composer Vincenzo, and Giulia, a mother from “a prosperous family”. He can be credited (or blamed) for us using complex equations instead of fancy philosophical speak in science today, as engineering students everywhere will no doubt be thrilled to know. Its effects still ripple through the lives of every researcher to this day. Showing others what science can do, and how one should go about it, is Galileo’s most important achievement. ![]() In an age where not believing in Heaven hard enough could get you burned at the stake, Galileo was peering into its secrets using a weird brass tube and writing them down in numbers. He showed by personal example that nature can be understood through observation. I would consider these to be evidence of Galileo’s curiosity, and his willingness to watch, measure, and consider before forming a belief, despite the weight of centuries-old religious institutions bearing down on him. Still, I wouldn’t list any of these as his crowning achievement. In his later years, under house arrest, he furthered kinematics and materials sciences. He was also the one to pick up the torch of modern astronomy from Copernicus, cementing the foundations of this field of study by proving his theories right. He was an accomplished mathematician and inventor, designing (among others) several military compasses and the thermoscope. There’s no shortage of options Galileo put in a lot of time and effort to study and describe physical properties, most notably those related to motion. I spent quite some time considering what I would list as being his greatest single achievement. ![]()
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