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Once upon a time, everyone thought this:
The earth is a flat huge penny,
But one person took the telescope,
He opened the way for us to the space age.
Who do you think it is?
Among the scientists known all over the world is Galileo Galilei. In what country was he born and how he studied, what he discovered and how he became famous - these are the questions, the answers to which we will be looking for today.
Lesson plan:
Where are future scientists born?
A poor family, where little Galileo Galilei was born in 1564, lived in the Italian city of Pisa.
The father of the future scientist was a real master in various fields, from mathematics to art history, so it is not at all surprising that from childhood young Galileo fell in love with painting and music and gravitated towards the exact sciences.
When the boy was eleven, the family from Pisa, where Galileo lived, moved to another city in Italy - Florence.
There he began his studies at a monastery, where the young student demonstrated brilliant abilities in the study of sciences. He even thought about a career as a clergyman, but his father did not approve of his choice, wanting his son to become a doctor. That is why, at the age of seventeen, Galileo moved to the University of Pisa at the Faculty of Medicine and began to diligently study philosophy, physics and mathematics.
However, he could not graduate from the university for a simple reason: the family could not pay for his further education. After leaving the third year, the student Galileo proceeds to self-education in the field of physical and mathematical sciences.
Thanks to his friendship with the wealthy Marquis del Monte, the young man managed to get a paid scientific position as a teacher of astronomy and mathematics at the University of Pisa.
During his university work, he conducted various experiments, which resulted in the laws of free fall, the motion of a body on an inclined plane and the force of inertia, which he discovered.
Since 1606, the scientist has been closely engaged in astronomy.
Interesting Facts! The full name of the scientist is Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de Galilei.
About mathematics, mechanics and physics
They say that, as a professor at the university in the town of Pisa, Galileo conducted experiments, dropping objects of different weights from the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in order to refute the theory of Aristotle. Even in some textbooks you can find such a picture.
Only these experiments are not mentioned anywhere in Galileo's works. Most likely, according to researchers today, this is a myth.
But the scientist rolled the objects along the inclined plane, measuring the time by his own heart rate. There were no exact hours then! These very experiments were put into the laws of motion of bodies.
Galileo was given the palm in the invention of the thermometer in 1592. The device was then called a thermoscope, and it was completely primitive. A thin glass tube was soldered to the glass ball. This structure was placed in a liquid. The air in the balloon was heated and displaced the liquid in the tube. The higher the temperature, the more air in the balloon and the lower the water level in the tube.
In 1606, an article appeared where Galileo laid out a drawing of a proportional compass. It is a simple tool that scaled resizing and was used in architecture and drafting.
Galileo is credited with inventing the microscope. In 1609 he made a "small eye" with two lenses - convex and concave. With the help of his invention, the scientist examined insects.
With his research, Galileo laid the foundations of classical physics and mechanics. So, on the basis of his conclusions about inertia, Newton subsequently fixed the first law of mechanics, according to which any body is at rest or moves uniformly in the absence of external forces.
His studies of pendulum oscillations formed the basis for the invention of the pendulum controller clock and made it possible to make accurate measurements in physics.
Interesting Facts! Galileo not only excelled in the natural sciences, but was also a creative person: he knew literature well and wrote poetry.
Astronomical discoveries that shook the world
In 1609, a rumor reached the scientist about the existence of a device that helps to examine distant objects by collecting light. If you already guessed, it was called a telescope, which is translated from Greek as "to look far."
For his invention, Galileo modified the telescope with lenses, and this device was able to magnify objects 3 times. Time after time he put together a new combination of several telescopes, and it gave more and more magnification. As a result, the Galilean "visionary" began to zoom in 32 times.
What discoveries in the field of astronomy belong to Galileo Galilei and glorified him all over the world, becoming real sensations? How did his invention help the scientist?
- Galileo Galilei told everyone that the Moon is a planet comparable to the Earth. He saw plains, craters and mountains on its surface.
- Thanks to the telescope, Galileo discovered four satellites near Jupiter, which are called today "Galilean", and the Milky Way appeared to everyone in the form of a strip crumbling into many stars.
- Putting smoked glass to the telescope, the scientist was able to examine the Sun, see spots on it and prove to everyone that it is the Earth that revolves around it, and not vice versa, as Aristotle believed and the religion and the Bible said.
- He was the first to see Saturn's environment, which he took for satellites, today we know as rings, found different phases of Venus and made it possible to observe previously unknown stars.
Galileo Galilei combined his discoveries in the book "Star Messenger", confirming the hypothesis that our planet is mobile and revolves around an axis, and the sun's star does not revolve around us, which caused the condemnation of the church. His work was called heresy, and the scientist himself was deprived of freedom of movement, falling under house arrest.
Interesting Facts! Quite surprising for our developed world that it was only in 1992 that the Vatican and the Pope recognized Galileo's correctness about the Earth's rotation around the Sun. Until that time Catholic Church I was sure that the opposite is happening: our planet is motionless, and the Sun "walks" around us.
This is how you can briefly tell about the life of an outstanding scientist who gave impetus to the development of astronomy, physics and mathematics.
In the name Galileo Galilei a famous science and entertainment television program was named. The host of this program, Alexander Pushnoy and his colleagues, conducted all sorts of different experiments and tried to explain what they did. I suggest you watch an excerpt from this wonderful program right now.
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"Galileo, perhaps more than any other individual, is responsible for the birth of modern science"
Stephen Hawkint - " Short story time "
At the age of seventeen, Galileo entered the University of Pisa at the Faculty of Medicine, but soon switched to law, continuing to take a great interest in mathematics and the movement of bodies.
After studying for almost three years, due to the financial difficulties of his father, he had to leave the university. And in 1589 he was appointed professor at the same university in the department of mathematics.
Proportional compasses used in drawing, invented by Galileo
In 1592 year Galileo transferred to Padun University. There he lectured on mathematics, astronomy and mechanics. During this period, the scientist lived in a civil marriage with Marina Gamba, from whom he had a son and two daughters, who later went to the monastery.
Galileo was very observant, and all his scientific discoveries made by relying on natural phenomena.
Moskvichka chose the five most interesting facts from the life of this scientist
1. While working at the University of Padun, Galileo studied the nature of free fall and proved that the rate of fall does not depend on body weight. Two bodies of the same shape and size, dropped from a height, will fall to the ground at the same time. The scientist discovered the law of the constancy of the pendulum period by observing the swinging chandelier in the cathedral. Later, this discovery helped in the invention of the pendulum clock.
2. Galileo discovered the law of inertia. According to which, if the inclination of the plane to the horizontal is the cause of the acceleration of a body moving downward along it, and the deceleration of a body moving upward along it, then, when moving along horizontal plane, the body has no reason to accelerate or decelerate, and it must be in a state of uniform motion or rest.
Thus, Galileo simply and clearly proved the connection between force and speed change, and not between force and speed itself, as Aristotle and his followers believed. It should be noted that Galileo allowed free movement not only in a straight line, but also in a circle.
3. But most importantly, Galileo laid the foundation for telescopic observations in astronomy and invented a telescope with a 32nd magnification. With the help of this equipment, he discovered spots on the sun, mountains on the moon and the rotation of the sun on its axis. It is believed that on January 7, 1610, Galileo first looked at the sky through a telescope.
Galileo shows a telescope to the Doge of Venice (fresco by G. Bertini)
4. At the time of Galileo, the Ptolemaic geocentric system of the world dominated according to which: the Earth is motionless, and the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the stars revolve around it.
The Polish astronomer Copernicus proposed a Heliocentric system, where planets revolve around the Sun and the stars are stationary. His theory, contrary to scripture, was banned. Galileo not only supported his Polish colleague, but also developed his theory, suggesting that the stars are also not stationary. The Inquisition forced 69-year-old Galileo to renounce his vision of the world and ordered his arrest. But the scientist was unapproachable and, according to one of the myths invented in those days, loudly rejected his theory, then quietly muttered: "And yet it turns!" For which he was sent under house arrest in a small town near Florence. In exile, Galileo continued to write a book about heliocentric system, and he managed to smuggle it overseas. In 1637 he went blind and died five years later. In the same year, the physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton was born. Here, indeed, is the balance of geniuses in nature.
5. Only in 1992 did the church acquit the great scientist. Pope John Paul II made a speech in which he recognized Galileo as a brilliant physicist and expressed regret that the theologians who had passed judgment on the scientist had too literally adhered to the text of Scripture. Until that time, the Vatican had never publicly acknowledged that the earth revolved around the sun. and a monument was erected on his grave 100 years later.
Galilei Galileo (15.02.1564 - 08.01.1642) was an Italian physicist, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher who made a great contribution to the development of science. Discovered experimental physics, laid the foundations for the development of classical mechanics, made major discoveries in astronomy.
Young years
Galileo - a native of the city of Pisa, had a noble birth, but his family was not rich. Galileo was the oldest child of four (a total of six children were born in the family, but two died). Since childhood, the boy was drawn to creativity: like his father, a musician, he was seriously fond of music, drew well and knew about fine arts. He also had a literary gift, which allowed him to further express his scientific research in works.
He was an outstanding student at the school at the monastery. I wanted to become a clergyman, but changed my mind because of the rejection of this idea by my father, who insisted on getting his son a medical education. So at the age of 17, Galileo went to the University of Pisa, where, in addition to medicine, he studied geometry that fascinated him.
Already at this time, the young man was characterized by the desire to defend his own position, not being afraid of established authoritative opinions. I constantly argued with teachers about science. Studied at the university for three years. It is assumed that at that time Galileo learned the teachings of Copernicus. He was forced to drop out when his father could no longer pay for it.
Due to the fact that the young man managed to make several inventions, he was noticed. He was especially admired by the Marquis del Monte, who was very fond of science and had good capital. So Galileo found a patron who also introduced him to the Duke of Medici and arranged for him to be a professor at the same university. This time Galileo focused on mathematics and mechanics. In 1590 he published his work - the treatise "On Movement".
Professor in Venice
From 1592 to 1610, Galileo taught at the University of Padua, became the head of the mathematical department, and was famous in scientific circles. The most active activity of Galileo fell on this time. He was very popular with students who dreamed of getting into his classes. Eminent scientists corresponded with him, and the authorities constantly set new technical problems for Galileo. At the same time, the treatise "Mechanics" was published.
When a new star was discovered in 1604, his scientific research fell on astronomy. In 1609, he assembles the first telescope, with the help of which he seriously advanced astronomical science. Galileo described the surface of the moon, the Milky Way, discovered the moons of Jupiter. His book The Star Messenger, published in 1610, was a huge success and made the telescope a popular purchase in Europe. But along with recognition and veneration, accusations of the illusory nature of his discoveries, as well as the desire to harm the medical and astrological sciences, fall on the scientist.
Soon Professor Galileo enters into an unofficial marriage with Marina Gamba, who bore him three children. Responding to the offer of a high position in Florence from the Duke of the Medici, he moved and became an adviser to the court. This decision allowed Galileo to pay off large debts, but partly played a disastrous role in his fate.
Life in Florence
At the new location, the scientist continued his astronomical research. It was typical for him to present his discoveries in a cocky style, which greatly annoyed other leaders, as well as the Jesuits. This led to the formation of an anti-Galilean society. The main complaint from the church was the heliocentric system, which contradicted the religious texts.
In 1611, the scientist went to Rome to meet with the head of the Catholic Church, where he was received quite warmly. There he introduced the telescope to the cardinals and tried to be careful with some explanations. Later, encouraged by a successful visit, he published his letter to the abbot stating that Scripture cannot have authority in matters of science, which attracted the attention of the Inquisition.
Galileo demonstrates the laws of gravity (fresco by D. Bezzoli, 1841)
His 1613 book, Letters on Sunspots, openly supported the teachings of N. Copernicus. In 1615, the first case against Galileo was opened by the Inquisition. And after he called on the Pope to express his final point of view on Copernicanism, the situation only got worse. In 1616, the church declares heliocentrism a heresy and prohibits the book of Galileo. Galileo's attempts to rectify the situation did not lead to anything, but they promised not to persecute him if he stopped supporting the teachings of Copernicus. But for a convinced scientist, this was impossible.
Nevertheless, for a while, he decided to turn his energy in a different direction, taking up criticism of the teachings of Aristotle. The result was his book "Assaying Master", written in 1623. At the same time, Galileo Barberini's longtime friend was elected Pope. In the hope of lifting the ban of the church, the scientist went to Rome, where he was well received, but did not achieve what he wanted. Galileo further decided in his writings to continue to defend the truth, considering several scientific points of view from a position of neutrality. His "Dialogue on Two Systems of the World" lays the foundations for a new mechanics.
Galileo's conflict with the church
Having submitted his Dialogue to the Catholic censor in 1630, Galileo waits for a year, after which he resorts to a trick: he writes a preface about the rejection of Copernicanism as a teaching. As a result, permission was obtained. Published in 1632, the book did not contain the specific conclusions of the author, although it clearly made sense in the argumentation of the Copernican system. The work was written in accessible Italian, and the author also independently sent copies to the highest ministers of the church.
A few months later, the book was banned, and Galileo was called to trial. He was arrested and imprisoned for 18 days. Thanks to the efforts of his apprentice, the duke, leniency was shown to the scientist, although he was supposedly still tortured. The investigation lasted two months, after which Galileo was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, he also had to renounce his own "delusions". He actually did not utter the catchphrase “And yet it turns,” which is attributed to Galileo. This legend was invented by the Italian literary figure D. Baretti.
Galileo before the Court (K. Bunty, 1857)
Old age
The scientist did not stay in prison for a long time, he was allowed to live on the Medici estate, and after five months - to return home, where they continued to follow him. Galileo settled in Archetri near the monastery where his daughters served, and spent his last years under house arrest. Subjected to a large number of prohibitions that made it difficult for his treatment and communication with friends. Later they were allowed to visit the scientist one at a time.
Despite the difficulties, Galileo continued to work in unbanned scientific directions. He published a book on mechanics, planned to publish a book anonymously in defense of his views, but did not have time. After the death of his beloved daughter, he became blind, but continued to work, wrote a work on kinematics, published in Holland and which became the basis for the research of Huygens and Newton.
Galileo died and was buried in Archetri, the church forbade burial in the family crypt and the erection of monuments to the scientist. His grandson, the last member of the family, became a monk and destroyed valuable manuscripts. In 1737, the remains of the scientist were transferred to the family tomb. The Catholic Church rehabilitated Galileo only at the end of the 70s of the last century, in 1992 the mistake of the Inquisition was officially recognized.
Galilei Galileo - an outstanding Italian scientist, author of a large number of important astronomical discoveries, the founder of experimental physics, the creator of the foundations of classical mechanics, a gifted literary man - was born into the family of a famous musician, an impoverished nobleman on February 15, 1564 in Pisa. His full name sounds like Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de Galilei. Young Galileo was interested in art in its various manifestations since childhood, he not only fell in love with painting and music for life, but was also a real master in these areas.
Having received his education in a monastery, Galileo thought about a career as a clergyman, but his father insisted that his son learn to be a doctor, and the 17-year-old boy in 1581 began to study medicine at the University of Pisa. During his studies, Galileo showed great interest in mathematics and physics, had his own point of view on many questions, which was different from the opinion of the luminaries, and was known as a great lover of discussions. Due to the financial difficulties of the family, Galileo did not study for three years and in 1585 he was forced to return to Florence without an academic degree.
In 1586, Galileo published his first scientific work entitled "Small hydrostatic balance". Seeing the remarkable potential in the young man, he was taken under his wing by the wealthy Marquis Guidobaldo del Monte, who was interested in science, thanks to whose efforts Galileo received a paid scientific position. In 1589 he returned to the University of Pisa, but already as a professor of mathematics - there he began to work on his own research in the field of mathematics and mechanics. In 1590, his work "On Movement" was published, which criticized Aristotelian doctrine.
In 1592, a new, extremely fruitful stage began in Galileo's biography, associated with his move to the Venetian Republic and teaching at the University of Padua, a rich educational institution with an excellent reputation. The scientific authority of the scientist grew rapidly, in Padua he quickly became the most famous and popular professor, respected not only by the scientific community, but also by the government.
Galileo's scientific research received a new impetus in connection with the discovery in 1604 of a star known today as Kepler's supernova and the increased interest in astronomy in this connection. At the end of 1609 he invented and created the first telescope, with the help of which he made a number of discoveries described in the work "Star Messenger" (1610) - for example, the presence of mountains and craters on the Moon, satellites of Jupiter, etc. sensation and brought Galileo European glory. During this period, his personal life was also arranged: a civil marriage with Marina Gamba subsequently gave him three beloved children.
The fame of the great scientist did not save Galileo from material problems, which was the impetus for moving to Florence in 1610, where, thanks to the Duke Cosimo II of Medici, he managed to get a prestigious and well-paid position of court adviser with easy duties. Galileo continues to make scientific discoveries, among which were, in particular, the presence of spots on the Sun, its rotation around its axis. The camp of the scientist's ill-wishers was constantly growing, not least because of his habit of expressing his views in a harsh, polemical manner, because of his growing influence.
In 1613 the book "Letters on Sunspots" was published with an open defense of Copernicus's views on the device solar system, which undermined the authority of the church, because did not coincide with the tenets of the scriptures. In February 1615, the Inquisition started a case against Galileo for the first time. Already in March of the same year, heliocentrism was officially declared a dangerous heresy, in connection with which the scientist's book was banned - with a warning to the author about the inadmissibility of further support for Copernicanism. Returning to Florence, Galileo changed his tactics, making the teaching of Aristotle the main object of his critical mind.
In the spring of 1630, the scientist sums up his many years of work in the "Dialogue on the two main systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernicus." Published by hook or by crook, the book attracted the attention of the Inquisition, as a result of which a couple of months later it was withdrawn from sale, and its author was summoned to Rome on February 13, 1633, where until June 21, an investigation was conducted on charges of heresy. Finding himself in a difficult choice, Galileo, in order to avoid the fate of Giordano Bruno, renounced his views and spent the rest of his life under house arrest in his villa near Florence, under the strictest control of the Inquisition.
But even in such conditions, he did not stop his scientific activities, although everything that came out of his pen was censored. In 1638, his work "Conversations and Mathematical Proofs ...", secretly sent to Holland, was published, on the basis of which Huygens and Newton continued to develop the postulates of mechanics. Five recent years biographies were overshadowed by ailment: Galileo worked, being practically blind, with the help of his students.
The greatest scientist who died on January 8, 1642 was buried as a mere mortal, the Pope did not give permission to erect the monument. In 1737, his remains were solemnly reburied, according to the dying will of the deceased, in the Basilica of Santa Croce. In 1835, work was completed on the exclusion of Galileo's works from the list of prohibited literature, initiated by Pope Benedict XIV in 1758, and in October 1992, Pope John Paul II, following the results of the work of a special rehabilitation commission, officially recognized the erroneousness of the actions of the Inquisition against Galileo Galilei.
Galileo Galilei (Italian Galileo Galilei; February 15, 1564, Pisa - January 8, 1642, Arcetri) - Italian physicist, mechanic, astronomer, philosopher and mathematician who had a significant influence on the science of his time. He was the first to use a telescope to observe celestial bodies and made a number of outstanding astronomical discoveries.
Galileo is the founder of experimental physics. With his experiments, he convincingly refuted speculative metaphysics and laid the foundation for classical mechanics.
During his lifetime, he was known as an active supporter of the heliocentric system of the world, which led Galileo to a serious conflict with the Catholic Church.
Galileo was born in 1564 in the Italian city of Pisa, the son of a well-born but impoverished nobleman Vincenzo Galilei, a prominent music theorist and lute player. Galileo Galilei's full name is Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de "Galilei. Galileo family members are mentioned in documents from the 14th century. Several of his direct ancestors were prior (members of the ruling council) of the Florentine Republic, and his great-great-grandfather , a famous physician, also named Galileo, was elected head of the republic in 1445.
The family of Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati had six children, but four managed to survive: Galileo (the eldest of the children), the daughters of Virginia, Livia and the youngest son of Michelangelo, who later also became famous as a lute composer. In 1572, Vincenzo moved to Florence, the capital of the Duchy of Tuscany. The Medici dynasty ruling there was known for its wide and constant patronage of the arts and sciences.
Little is known about Galileo's childhood. From an early age, the boy was attracted to art; Throughout his life, he carried a love of music and drawing, which he mastered to perfection. In his mature years, the best artists of Florence - Chigoli, Bronzino, and others - consulted with him on issues of perspective and composition; Chigoli even claimed that he owed his fame to Galileo. From the writings of Galileo, one can also conclude that he has a remarkable literary talent.
Galileo received his primary education at the nearby Vallombroza monastery. The boy loved to study and became one of the best students in the class. He considered the possibility of becoming a priest, but his father was against it.
In 1581, 17-year-old Galileo, at the insistence of his father, entered the University of Pisa to study medicine. At the university, Galileo also attended lectures on geometry (previously he was completely unfamiliar with mathematics) and was so carried away by this science that his father began to fear that this would interfere with the study of medicine.
Galileo was a student for less than three years; during this time he managed to thoroughly familiarize himself with the works of ancient philosophers and mathematicians and earned a reputation among teachers as an indomitable debater. Even then, he considered himself entitled to have his own opinion on all scientific issues, regardless of traditional authorities.
Probably during these years he became acquainted with the theory. Astronomical problems were then vividly discussed, especially in connection with the calendar reform that had just been carried out.
Soon the father's financial situation deteriorated, and he was unable to pay further for his son's education. The request to exempt Galileo from fees (this exception was made for the most capable students) was rejected. Galileo returned to Florence (1585) without receiving a degree. Fortunately, he managed to attract attention with several ingenious inventions (for example, hydrostatic balances), thanks to which he met the educated and wealthy lover of science, the Marquis Guidobaldo del Monte. The Marquis, in contrast to the Pisa professors, was able to correctly assess him. Even then, del Monte said that since time the world has not seen such a genius as Galileo. Delighted with the extraordinary talent of the young man, the marquis became his friend and patron; he introduced Galileo to the Duke of Tuscan Ferdinand I de Medici and applied for a paid scientific position for him.
In 1589 Galileo returned to the University of Pisa, now a professor of mathematics. There he began to conduct independent research in mechanics and mathematics. True, his salary was assigned a minimum: 60 scant a year (the professor of medicine received 2000 scant). In 1590 Galileo wrote a treatise On Movement.
In 1591, his father died, and responsibility for the family passed to Galileo. First of all, he had to take care of the upbringing of his younger brother and the dowry of two unmarried sisters.
In 1592, Galileo received a position at the prestigious and wealthy University of Padua (Republic of Venice), where he taught astronomy, mechanics and mathematics.
The years in Padua are the most fruitful period of Galileo's scientific activity. He soon became the most famous professor in Padua. Students in droves rushed to his lectures, the Venetian government constantly entrusted Galileo with the development of various kinds of technical devices, young Kepler and other scientific authorities of that time actively corresponded with him.
During these years he wrote a treatise "Mechanics", which aroused some interest and was republished in French translation. In his early works, as well as in correspondence, Galileo gave the first sketch of a new general theory of the fall of bodies and the motion of a pendulum.
The reason for a new stage in Galileo's scientific research was the appearance in 1604 of a new star, now called Kepler's Supernova. This awakens everyone's interest in astronomy, and Galileo gives a series of private lectures. Having learned about the invention of the telescope in Holland, Galileo in 1609 designs the first telescope with his own hand and directs it to the sky.
What Galileo saw was so amazing that even many years later there were people who refused to believe in his discoveries and claimed that it was an illusion or an obsession. Galileo discovered mountains on the Moon, the Milky Way disintegrated into separate stars, but the 4 moons of Jupiter discovered by him (1610) especially struck his contemporaries. In honor of the four sons of his late patron Ferdinand de Medici (who died in 1609), Galileo named these moons the "Medici Stars" (Latin Stellae Medicae). Now they have a better name. "Galilean satellites".
Galileo described his first discoveries with a telescope in the essay "Star Messenger" (lat. Sidereus Nuncius), published in Florence in 1610. The book was a sensational success throughout Europe, even the crowned heads rushed to order a telescope. Galileo donated several telescopes to the Venetian Senate, which, as a token of gratitude, appointed him professor for life with a salary of 1,000 florins. In September 1610, Kepler acquired a telescope, and in December Galileo's discoveries were confirmed by the influential Roman astronomer Clavius. There is universal recognition. Galileo becomes the most famous scientist in Europe, odes are composed in his honor, where he is compared with Columbus. The French king Henry IV on April 20, 1610, shortly before his death, asked Galileo to open some star for him as well.
There were, however, those who were dissatisfied. Astronomer Francesco Sizzi (Italian. Sizzi) released a pamphlet, where he stated that seven is a perfect number, and even in a person's head there are seven holes, so there can be only seven planets, and Galileo's discoveries are an illusion. Astrologers and doctors also protested, complaining that the appearance of new celestial bodies "is destructive for astrology and most of medicine", since all the usual astrological methods "will be completely destroyed."
During these years, Galileo entered into a civil marriage with the Venetian Marina Gamba (Italian Marina Gamba). He never married Marina, but became the father of a son and two daughters. He named his son Vincenzo in memory of his father, and his daughters, in honor of his sisters, Virginia and Livia. Later, in 1619, Galileo officially legalized his son; both daughters ended their lives in a monastery.
Pan-European fame and the need for money pushed Galileo to a destructive, as it later turned out, step: in 1610 he leaves the calm Venice, where he was inaccessible for the Inquisition, and moves to Florence. Duke Cosimo II Medici, son of Ferdinand, promised Galileo an honorable and lucrative position as an adviser to the Tuscan court. He kept his promise, which allowed Galileo to solve the problem of huge debts that had accumulated after the marriage of his two sisters.
Galileo's duties at the court of Duke Cosimo II were not burdensome - teaching the sons of the Tuscan duke and participating in some affairs as an advisor and representative of the duke. He is also formally enrolled as a professor at the University of Pisa, but is relieved of the tedious duty of lecturing.
Galileo continues research and reveals the phases of Venus, spots on the Sun, and then the rotation of the Sun around its axis... Galileo often described his achievements (and often his priority) in a cocky polemic style, which made him many new enemies (in particular, among the Jesuits).
The growing influence of Galileo, the independence of his thinking and sharp opposition to the teachings of Aristotle contributed to the formation of an aggressive circle of his opponents, consisting of peripatetic professors and some church leaders. Galileo's ill-wishers were especially outraged by his propaganda of the heliocentric system of the world, because, in their opinion, the rotation of the Earth contradicted the texts of the Psalms (Psalm 103: 5), the verse from Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 1: 5), as well as an episode from the Book of Joshua ( Josh. 10:12), which speaks of the immobility of the earth and the movement of the sun. In addition, a detailed substantiation of the concept of the immobility of the Earth and the refutation of hypotheses about its rotation was contained in Aristotle's treatise "On the Sky" and in Ptolemy's "Almagest".
In 1611, Galileo, in a halo of his glory, decided to go to Rome, hoping to convince the Pope that Copernicanism was quite compatible with Catholicism. He was well received, elected the sixth member of the Academia dei Lincei, and met Pope Paul V, influential cardinals. I showed them my telescope and gave my explanations carefully and prudently. The cardinals created a whole commission to find out whether it is a sin to look at the sky through a pipe, but they came to the conclusion that it is permissible. It was also encouraging that the Roman astronomers openly discussed the question of whether Venus moves around the Earth or around the Sun (the phase change of Venus clearly spoke in favor of the second option).
Emboldened, Galileo, in a letter to his disciple Abbot Castelli (1613), stated that Scripture refers only to the salvation of the soul and is not authoritative in scientific matters: "no sentence of Scripture has such a coercive force as any natural phenomenon." Moreover, he published this letter, which caused the appearance of denunciations to the Inquisition. In the same 1613, Galileo published the book "Letters on Sunspots", in which he openly spoke out in favor of the Copernican system. On February 25, 1615, the Roman Inquisition began the first case against Galileo on charges of heresy. Galileo's last mistake was the call to Rome to express the final attitude towards Copernicanism (1615).
All this caused a reaction that was the opposite of what was expected. Alarmed by the success of the Reformation, the Catholic Church decided to strengthen its spiritual monopoly - in particular, by banning Copernicanism. The position of the church is clarified by a letter from the influential Cardinal Bellarmino, sent on April 12, 1615, to the theologian Paolo Antonio Foscarini, the defender of Copernicanism. The cardinal explains that the church does not object to the interpretation of Copernicanism as a convenient mathematical device, but accepting it as a reality would mean recognizing that the previous, traditional interpretation of the biblical text was erroneous.
On March 5, 1616, Rome officially defines heliocentrism as a dangerous heresy.: "To assert that the Sun stands motionless in the center of the world is an absurd opinion, false from a philosophical point of view and formally heretical, since it directly contradicts Holy Scripture. To assert that the Earth is not in the center of the world, that it does not remain motionless and even has daily rotation, there is an opinion just as ridiculous, false from a philosophical and sinful from a religious point of view. "
The church prohibition of heliocentrism, of which Galileo was convinced, was unacceptable to the scientist. He returned to Florence and began to ponder how, without formally breaking the ban, he could continue to defend the truth. He eventually decided to publish a book containing a neutral discussion of different points of view. He wrote this book for 16 years, collecting materials, honing arguments and biding his time.
After the fateful decree of 1616, Galileo changed the direction of the struggle for several years - now he focuses his efforts mainly on the criticism of Aristotle, whose writings also formed the basis of the medieval worldview. In 1623, Galileo's book "Assaying Master" (Italian Il Saggiatore) was published; is a pamphlet directed against the Jesuits, in which Galileo expounds his erroneous theory of comets (he believed that comets are not cosmic bodies, but optical phenomena in the Earth's atmosphere). The position of the Jesuits (and Aristotle) in this case was closer to the truth: comets are extraterrestrial objects. This error did not prevent, however, Galileo from expounding and wittily arguing his scientific method, from which the mechanistic worldview of subsequent centuries grew.
In the same 1623, Matteo Barberini, an old acquaintance and friend of Galileo, was elected as the new Pope, under the name Urban VIII. In April 1624 Galileo traveled to Rome, hoping to have the edict of 1616 revoked. He was received with all honors, awarded with gifts and flattering words, but he did not achieve anything on the main issue. The edict was canceled only two centuries later, in 1818. Urban VIII especially praised the book "Assay Master" and forbade the Jesuits to continue their polemics with Galileo.
In 1624 Galileo published Letters to Ingoli; it is a response to the anti-Copernican treatise of theologian Francesco Ingoli. Galileo immediately stipulates that he is not going to defend Copernicanism, but only wants to show that it has solid scientific foundations. He used this technique later in his main book, "Dialogue on Two Systems of the World"; part of the text of Letters to Ingoli was simply transferred to Dialogue. In his consideration, Galileo equates the stars with the Sun, indicates the colossal distance to them, speaks of the infinity of the Universe. He even allowed himself a dangerous phrase: “If any point of the world can be called its [world] center, then this is the center of the revolutions of heavenly bodies; and in it, as anyone who understands these questions knows, is the Sun, not the Earth. " He also stated that the planets and the Moon, like the Earth, attract bodies located on them.
But the main scientific value of this work is the laying of the foundations of a new, non-Aristotelian mechanics, developed 12 years later in the last work of Galileo, "Conversations and Mathematical Proofs of Two New Sciences."
In modern terminology, Galileo proclaimed the homogeneity of space (absence of the center of the world) and the equality of inertial reference frames. An important anti-Aristotelian point should be noted: Galileo's argumentation implicitly assumes that the results of terrestrial experiments can be transferred to celestial bodies, that is, the laws on Earth and in the sky are the same.
At the end of his book, Galileo, with obvious irony, expresses the hope that his writing will help Ingoli replace his objections to Copernicanism with others more in line with science.
In 1628, 18-year-old Ferdinand II, a pupil of Galileo, became Grand Duke of Tuscany; his father Cosimo II had died seven years earlier. The new duke maintained a warm relationship with the scientist, was proud of him and helped in every way.
Valuable information about Galileo's life is contained in the surviving correspondence between Galileo and his eldest daughter Virginia, who took the name of Maria-Celesta as a monk. She lived in a Franciscan monastery at Arcetri, near Florence. The monastery, as it should be for the Franciscans, was poor, the father often sent his daughter food and flowers, in return the daughter made him jam, mending clothes, and copying documents. Only letters from Maria Celesta have survived - letters from Galileo, most likely, the monastery was destroyed after the process of 1633. The second daughter, Livia, lived in the same monastery, but at that time she was often ill and did not take part in the correspondence.
In 1629, Vincenzo, the son of Galileo, married and settled with his father. The following year, Galileo had a grandson named after him. Soon, however, alarmed by another plague epidemic, Vincenzo and his family leave. Galileo is considering a plan to move to Archetri, closer to his beloved daughter; this plan came true in September 1631.
In March 1630, the book "Dialogue on the two main systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernicus", the result of almost 30 years of work, is basically completed, and Galileo, deciding that the moment for its release is favorable, provides the then version to his friend, papal censor Riccardi ... For almost a year he waits for his decision, then decides to go for a trick. He adds a preface to the book, where he declares his goal to debunk Copernicanism and transfers the book to the Tuscan censorship, and, according to some information, in an incomplete and mitigated form. After receiving positive feedback, he forwards it to Rome. In the summer of 1631, he received the long-awaited permission.
At the beginning of 1632 "Dialogue" was published. The book is written in the form of a dialogue between three lovers of science: the Copernican Salviati, a neutral participant in the Sagredo and Simplicio, an adherent of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Although the book does not contain the author's conclusions, the strength of the arguments for the Copernican system speaks for itself. It is also important that the book was written not in scholarly Latin, but in the "folk" Italian language.
Galileo hoped that the Pope would treat his trick as condescendingly as earlier to the Letters to Ingoli similar in ideas, but he miscalculated. To top it off, he recklessly sends 30 copies of his book to influential clerics in Rome. As noted above, not long before (1623) Galileo came into conflict with the Jesuits; he had few defenders in Rome, and even those, assessing the danger of the situation, chose not to interfere.
Most biographers agree that in the simpleton Simplicio, the Pope recognized himself, his arguments, and flew into a rage. Historians note such specific traits Urbana, as despotism, stubbornness and incredible conceit. Galileo himself later believed that the initiative belonged to the Jesuits, who presented the Pope with an extremely tendentious denunciation of the book of Galileo (see below Galileo's letter to Diodati). Within a few months, the book was banned and withdrawn from sale, and Galileo was summoned to Rome (despite the plague epidemic) to be tried by the Inquisition on suspicion of heresy. After unsuccessful attempts to achieve a postponement due to poor health and the ongoing plague epidemic (Urban threatened to deliver him forcibly in shackles) Galileo obeyed, left the plague quarantine and arrived in Rome on February 13, 1633. Niccolini, the representative of Tuscany in Rome, at the direction of Duke Ferdinand II, settled Galileo in the embassy building. The investigation dragged on from April 21 to June 21, 1633.
At the end of the first interrogation, the accused was taken into custody. Galileo spent only 18 days in prison (from 12 to 30 April 1633) - this unusual leniency was probably caused by Galileo's consent to repent, as well as the influence of the Tuscan duke, who was constantly trying to mitigate the fate of his old teacher. Taking into account his illness and advanced age, one of the service rooms in the building of the Inquisition Tribunal was used as a prison.
Historians have investigated the question of whether Galileo was tortured while imprisoned. The documents of the trial have not been published in full by the Vatican, and what has seen the light of day may have undergone preliminary editing. Nevertheless, the following words were found in the verdict of the Inquisition: "Having noticed that you did not quite openly admit your intentions when answering, we considered it necessary to resort to a severe test."
After the "test" Galileo, in a letter from prison (April 23), carefully informs that he does not get out of bed, as he is tormented by "a terrible pain in the hip." Some of Galileo's biographers suggest that torture really took place, while others consider this assumption unproven, only the threat of torture is documented, often accompanied by an imitation of the torture itself. In any case, if there was torture, it was on a moderate scale, since on April 30 the scientist was released back to the Tuscan embassy.
Judging by the surviving documents and letters, scientific topics were not discussed at the trial. The main questions were two: whether Galileo deliberately violated the edict of 1616, and whether he regrets what he had done. Three experts from the Inquisition gave a conclusion: the book violates the ban on the propaganda of the "Pythagorean" doctrine. As a result, the scientist was faced with a choice: either he will repent and renounce his "delusions", or his fate will befall him.
On June 16, the Inquisition held a plenary meeting with the participation of Urban VIII, where it decided:
“After reviewing the entire course of the case and hearing testimony, His Holiness decided to interrogate Galileo under the threat of torture and, if he resists, then after a preliminary abdication as a strongly suspected of heresy ... sentenced to imprisonment at the discretion of the Holy Congregation. - or in a way about the movement of the Earth and about the immobility of the Sun ... under pain of punishment as incorrigible. "
Galileo's last interrogation took place on June 21. Galileo confirmed that he agreed to utter the renunciation required of him; this time he was not released to the embassy and was again taken into custody. On June 22, the verdict was announced: Galileo was guilty of distributing a book with a "false, heretical teaching contrary to Holy Scripture" about the movement of the Earth:
"As a result of considering your guilt and your consciousness in it, we award and declare you, Galileo, for all of the above and you confessed under strong suspicion at this Holy Judgment of heresy, as possessed by the false and contrary to Holy and Divine Scripture idea that the Sun is the center of the earth orbits and does not move from east to west, the Earth is mobile and is not the center of the Universe.Likewise, we recognize you as a disobedient to church authority, which forbade you to expound, defend and pass off as a probable doctrine recognized as false and contrary to Holy Scripture ... So that such a grave and harmful sin your disobedience did not remain without any reward and you would not have become even more daring later on, but, on the contrary, would serve as an example and warning for others, we decided to ban the book under the title "Dialogue" by Galileo Galilei, and imprison you yourself at St. trial for an indefinite time. "
Galileo was sentenced to imprisonment for a period to be established by the Pope. He was not declared a heretic, but “strongly suspected of heresy”; this wording was also a grave accusation, but saved from the fire. After the pronouncement of the verdict, Galileo on his knees pronounced the text of the abdication offered to him. Copies of the verdict on the personal order of Pope Urban were sent to all universities in Catholic Europe.
Pope did not keep Galileo in prison for long. After the verdict was passed, Galileo was settled in one of the Medici villas, from where he was transferred to the palace of his friend, Archbishop Piccolomini in Siena. Five months later, Galileo was allowed to go home, and he settled in Archetri, next to the monastery where his daughters were. Here he spent the rest of his life under house arrest and under the constant supervision of the Inquisition.
Galileo's detention regime did not differ from that of the prison, and he was constantly threatened with transfer to prison for the slightest violation of the regime. Galileo was not allowed to visit cities, although a seriously ill prisoner needed constant medical supervision. In the early years he was forbidden to receive guests on pain of being transferred to prison; subsequently, the regime was somewhat relaxed, and friends were able to visit Galileo - however, no more than one at a time.
The Inquisition followed the prisoner to the end of his life; even at the death of Galileo, two of her representatives were present. All of his published works were subject to particularly careful censorship. Note that in Protestant Holland, the publication of "Dialogue" continued.
A 33-year-old died in 1634 eldest daughter Virginia (in the monastic life of Maria-Celesta), Galileo's favorite, who devotedly looked after her sick father and was acutely worried about his misadventures. Galileo writes that he is possessed by "boundless sadness and melancholy ... I constantly hear my dear daughter calling me." Galileo's health has deteriorated, but he continues to work vigorously in the fields of science permitted to him.
A letter from Galileo to his friend Elia Diodati (1634) has survived, where he shares news of his misadventures, points out their perpetrators (the Jesuits) and shares plans for future research. The letter was sent through a confidant, and Galileo is quite frank in it: "In Rome, I was sentenced by the Holy Inquisition to imprisonment at the direction of His Holiness ... this small town one mile from Florence became the place of imprisonment for me, with the strictest prohibition to go down into the city, meet and talk with friends and invite them ... When I returned from the monastery together with the doctor who visited my sick daughter before her death, and the doctor told me that the case was hopeless and that she would not survive the next day (as it happened), I found the vicar-inquisitor at home. Of the Holy Inquisition in Rome ... that I should not have asked for permission to return to Florence, otherwise they would put me in a real prison of the Holy Inquisition ... powerful persecutors are constantly increasing. And they finally wished to reveal their face: when one of my dear friends in Rome, about two months, in a conversation with the Padre Christopher Greenberg, a Jesuit, a mathematician of this collegium, touched upon my affairs, this Jesuit told my friend literally the following: “If Galileo could keep the favor of the fathers of this collegium, he would live free, using fame, he would not have any grief and he could write at his own discretion about anything - even about the movement of the Earth ", etc. So, you see that they took up arms against me not because of this or that opinion of mine, but because Jesuits ".
At the end of the letter, Galileo ridicules the ignorant, who “declare the mobility of the Earth a heresy” and informs him that he intends to publish a new treatise anonymously in defense of his position, but first he wants to finish a long-conceived book on mechanics. Of these two plans, he managed to implement only the second - he wrote a book on mechanics, summarizing his earlier discoveries in this area.
Galileo's last book was Conversations and Mathematical Proofs of Two New Sciences, which sets out the foundations of kinematics and strength of materials. In fact, the content of the book is a defeat of Aristotelian dynamics; instead, Galileo puts forward his principles of movement, tested by experience. Challenging the Inquisition, Galileo brought out the same three characters in the new book as in the previously banned "Dialogue about the two main systems of the world." In May 1636, the scientist negotiates the publication of his work in Holland, and then secretly sends the manuscript there. In a confidential letter to a friend, Count de Noel (to whom he dedicated this book), Galileo writes that the new work "puts me back in the ranks of fighters." "Conversations ..." was published in July 1638, and the book came to Archetri almost a year later - in June 1639. This work became the handbook of Huygens and Newton, who completed the construction of the foundations of mechanics, begun by Galileo.
Only once, shortly before his death (March 1638), the Inquisition allowed the blind and seriously ill Galileo to leave Arcetri and settle in Florence for treatment. At the same time, on pain of prison, he was forbidden to leave the house and discuss the "cursed opinion" about the movement of the Earth. However, a few months later, after the appearance of the Dutch edition of "Conversations ...", the permit was revoked, and the scientist was ordered to return to Archetri. Galileo was going to continue "Conversations ...", having written two more chapters, but did not have time to complete his plan.
Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642, at the age of 78, in his bed. Pope Urban forbade the burial of Galileo in the family crypt of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. They buried him in Archetri without honors, the Pope did not allow to erect a monument either.
The youngest daughter, Livia, died in the monastery. Later, Galileo's only grandson also took monastic vows and burned the invaluable manuscripts of the scientist that he kept as godless. He was the last member of the Galilean family.
In 1737, the ashes of Galileo, as he requested, were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Croce, where on March 17 he was solemnly buried next to Michelangelo. In 1758, Pope Benedict XIV ordered the deletion of works defending heliocentrism from the Index of Forbidden Books; however, this work was carried out slowly and was completed only in 1835.
From 1979 to 1981, on the initiative of Pope John Paul II, a commission for the rehabilitation of Galileo worked, and on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II officially recognized that the Inquisition made a mistake in 1633, forcing the scientist to renounce Copernicus' theory.
Galileo's scientific achievements:
Galileo is rightfully considered the founder of not only experimental, but - to a large extent - also theoretical physics. In his scientific method, he deliberately combined thoughtful experiment with its rational understanding and generalization, and personally gave impressive examples of such research.
Galileo is considered one of the founders of mechanism. This scientific approach considers the Universe as a gigantic mechanism, and complex natural processes as combinations of the simplest causes, the main of which is mechanical movement. Analysis mechanical movement underlies the work of Galileo.
Galileo formulated the correct laws of fall: the speed increases in proportion to the time, and the path - in proportion to the square of the time. In accordance with his scientific method, he immediately cited experimental data confirming the laws he discovered. Moreover, Galileo considered (on the 4th day of Conversations) a generalized problem: to study the behavior of a falling body with a nonzero horizontal initial velocity. He quite correctly assumed that the flight of such a body would be a superposition (overlap) of two "simple movements": uniform horizontal motion by inertia and uniformly accelerated vertical fall.
Galileo proved that the indicated, as well as any body thrown at an angle to the horizon flies in a parabola. In the history of science, this is the first solved problem of dynamics. In conclusion of the study, Galileo proved that the maximum flight range of a thrown body is achieved for a throw angle of 45 ° (earlier this assumption was expressed by Tartaglia, who, however, could not rigorously substantiate it). On the basis of his model, Galileo (back in Venice) compiled the first artillery tables.
Galileo also refuted the second of the cited laws of Aristotle, formulating the first law of mechanics (the law of inertia): in the absence of external forces, the body either rests or moves uniformly. What we call inertia, Galileo poetically called "indestructible motion imprinted." True, he allowed free movement not only in a straight line, but also in a circle (apparently, for astronomical reasons). The correct wording of the law was later given by and; nevertheless, it is generally recognized that the very concept of "inertial motion" was first introduced by Galileo, and the first law of mechanics justly bears his name.
Galileo is one of the founders of the principle of relativity in classical mechanics , which became, in a slightly refined form, one of the cornerstones of the modern interpretation of this science and was named later in his honor.
The above discoveries of Galileo, among other things, allowed him to refute many arguments of the opponents of the heliocentric system of the world, who argued that the rotation of the Earth would noticeably affect the phenomena occurring on its surface. For example, according to geocentrists, the surface of a rotating Earth during the fall of any body would leave from under this body, shifting by tens or even hundreds of meters. Galileo confidently predicted: "Any experiments that should point more against than for the rotation of the Earth will be fruitless."
Galileo published a study of the oscillations of a pendulum and stated that the period of oscillations does not depend on their amplitude (this is approximately true for small amplitudes). He also found that the periods of oscillation of a pendulum are related as square roots of its length. Galileo's results attracted the attention of Huygens, who invented the pendulum clock (1657); from that moment on, it became possible to make precise measurements in experimental physics.
For the first time in the history of science, Galileo raised the question of the strength of rods and beams in bending and thereby laid the foundation for a new science - the resistance of materials.
Many of Galileo's arguments are sketches of physical laws discovered much later. For example, in "Dialogue" he says that the vertical speed of a ball rolling on the surface of a complex relief depends only on its current height, and illustrates this fact with several thought experiments; now we would formulate this conclusion as the law of conservation of energy in a gravity field. He explains the (theoretically undamped) swing of the pendulum in a similar way.
In statics, Galileo introduced the fundamental concept of the moment of force.
In 1609, Galileo independently built his first telescope with a convex lens and a concave eyepiece. The tube magnified approximately threefold. Soon he managed to build a telescope with a magnification of 32 times. Note that it was Galileo who introduced the term telescope into science (the term itself was suggested to him by Federico Cesi, the founder of the Accademia dei Lincei). A number of telescopic discoveries of Galileo contributed to the establishment of the heliocentric system of the world, which Galileo actively promoted, and the refutation of the views of the geocentrists Aristotle and Ptolemy.
Galileo made his first telescopic observations of celestial bodies on January 7, 1610. These observations showed that the Moon, like the Earth, has a complex relief - covered with mountains and craters. The ash light of the moon, known since ancient times, was explained by Galileo as the result of sunlight reflected by the Earth hitting our natural satellite. All this refuted the doctrine of Aristotle about the opposition of "earthly" and "heavenly": the Earth became a body of essentially the same nature as the heavenly bodies, and this, in turn, served as an indirect argument in favor of the Copernican system: if other planets move, then naturally assume that the Earth is also moving. Galileo also discovered the libration of the moon and fairly accurately estimated the height of the lunar mountains.
Galileo also discovered (independently of Johann Fabritius and Harriot) sunspots. The existence of spots and their constant variability refuted the thesis of Aristotle about the perfection of heaven (as opposed to the "sublunary world"). Based on the results of their observations, Galileo concluded that the Sun rotates on its axis, estimated the period of this rotation and the position of the Sun's axis.
Galileo established that Venus changes phases. On the one hand, this proved that it shines with the reflected light of the Sun (about which there was no clarity in the astronomy of the previous period). On the other hand, the order of the phase change corresponded to the heliocentric system: in Ptolemy's theory, Venus as the “lower” planet was always closer to the Earth than the Sun, and “fullness” was impossible.
Galileo also noted strange "appendages" of Saturn, but the opening of the ring was prevented by the weakness of the telescope and the rotation of the ring, which hid it from the terrestrial observer. Half a century later, the ring of Saturn was discovered and described by Huygens, who had a 92x telescope at his disposal.
Galileo showed that when observed through a telescope, the planets are visible as disks, the apparent sizes of which in various configurations change in such a ratio as follows from the Copernican theory. However, the diameter of the stars does not increase when observed with a telescope. This contradicted estimates of the apparent and real size of stars, which were used by some astronomers as an argument against the heliocentric system.
The Milky Way, which looks like a solid glow to the naked eye, disintegrated into separate stars (which confirmed Democritus's guess), and a huge number of previously unknown stars became visible.
Galileo explained why the earth's axis does not rotate when the earth revolves around the sun; to explain this phenomenon, Copernicus introduced a special "third motion" of the Earth. Galileo showed by experience that the axis of a freely moving top retains its direction by itself.
Probability theory includes his research on the outcomes of throwing dice. In his "Discourse on the game of dice" ("Considerazione sopra il giuoco dei dadi", date unknown, published in 1718), a fairly complete analysis of this problem is carried out.
In Conversations on Two New Sciences, he formulated the Galileo paradox: there are as many natural numbers as there are squares, although most of the numbers are not squares. This prompted further research into the nature of infinite sets and their classification; ended the process of creating set theory.
Galileo created a hydrostatic balance for determining the specific gravity of solids. Galileo described their construction in La bilancetta (1586).
Galileo developed the first thermometer, still without a scale (1592), proportional compass used in drafting (1606), microscope, poor quality (1612); with his help Galileo studied insects.
Galileo's disciples:
Borelli, who continued to study the moons of Jupiter; he was one of the first to formulate the law universal gravitation... The founder of biomechanics.
Viviani, Galileo's first biographer, talented physicist and mathematician.
Cavalieri, the forerunner of mathematical analysis, in whose fate Galileo's support played a huge role.
Castelli, creator of hydrometry.
Torricelli, who became an outstanding physicist and inventor.
