Galileo, pronounced gal uh LAY oh (1564-1642), an Italian
astronomer and physicist, has been called the founder of modern experimental science.
Galileo made the first effective use of the refracting telescope to discover
important new facts about astronomy. He also discovered the law of falling bodies
as well as the law of the pendulum. Galileo designed a variety of scientific instruments.
He also developed and improved the refracting telescope, though he did not invent
it.
Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa (yep, the site of the famous leaning tower) on
Feb. 15, 1564. In the early 1570's, his family moved to Florence, and Galileo began
his formal education at a school in a nearby monastery. Galileo's father, determined
that his son should be a doctor, sent him to the University of Pisa in 1581. Galileo
studied medicine and the philosophy of Aristotle for the next four years.
Early scientific interests. Galileo's years as a student at Pisa marked a turning
point for him. Never really interested in medicine, he discovered he had a talent
for mathematics. In 1585, he persuaded his father to let him leave the university.
Back in Florence with his family, Galileo spent the next four years as a teacher
in mathematics. During this time, he began to question Aristotelian philosophy
and scientific thought. At the same time, he gained his first public notice with
his new hydrostatic balance, an instrument used to find the specific gravity of
objects by weighing them in water.
Before Galileo, it was thought that a heavy object would fall faster than a light
one. According to legend, he went to the top of the famous
leaning tower of Pisa and dropped two items of different weights. They hit
the ground together, proving that gravity pulls all objects to Earth at the same
rate of speed.