Born Galileo Galilei into a Florentine family whose wealth and position was declining, he lived from 1564 to 1642. His father, Vincenzo Galilei, was a influential musical theorist.

Galileo was encouraged to be study medicine at the university in Pisa but very quickly became interested in mathematics. He returned home to Florence to study mathematics. Eventually, he became a teacher of mathematics and went back to Pisa. While teaching at the university of Pisa, he began working on theories of physics, including the question about the speed of falling objects.

In 1609, Galileo learned about the development of the telescope from Holland. Using that information, he made him make the best telescope in existence at that time. He used his improved telescope to study the phenomena of the planets and stars. He discovered the rings around Saturn and the moons of Jupiter and shared them with many Roman Catholic priests.

Notes on the movement of the moons of Jupiter

Copernicus influenced Galileo with his theories on the model of the solar system. Galileo was one of the first people to say that the earth revolved around sun, not the sun around the earth as was common belief in medieval Europes.

Because his views conflicted with the position held by the Catholic Church, Galileo was ordered to stop teaching his view of the universe. When Urban VIII became pope, Galileo obtained permission to set down his ideas in print if he would also fairly account the evidence that suggested the earth was the center of the solar system. The book that Galileo wrote outlined the religious position but methodically proved the with science and mathematics that the religious view was an ignorant view. Galileo was arrested for his statements about the solar system, charged with heresy. The church made him make a public statement that the earth stands still and the sun revolves around the earth not the other way around. It is said that after he made the ordered statement the scientist was heard muttering that "nevertheless it moves."

Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment for arguing that the sun was the center of the solar system. He was allowed to serve his term under house arrest and during this period, he wrote his thesis on moving objects and material strength and passed onto subsequent generations ideas that are the foundation of modern physics.

Galileo influenced the scientific revolution, with methods of thinking and analysis and with equipment that allowed man to see the distant world and the microscopic world around us. He also epitomized the character of the men of the Renaissance, who relished the power of the human mind and the value of human spirit.

Where is Galileo's Middle Finger?