In an era of human history, when nearly all aspects of life were dominated by the Catholic churches’ teachings and beliefs, a man looked to the heavens above and discovered one of the fundamental truths of the universe. Historically, Europe of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was a time filled with great advancements in thought and culture. Despite the influence and impacts of the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, throughout the western world, the Catholic tradition still held immense control over most of the people’s lives in Europe. Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist and intellectual challenged one of the core teachings of the Catholic Church with his observations of the cosmos. In this essay, Moon Man by Adam Gopnik, the
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As the author states in the essay, “Galileo was born in Pisa on the day that Michelangelo died” (Gopnik), which translates to February 18th, 1564. Conversely, Gopnik continues on by saying that this date of birth is most likely inaccurate due to tampering of records. Growing up, Galileo was very close with and influenced by his father, a musician and a musical theorist, leading to his own study of the arts. Although the main study points of Galileo’s youth were of the arts, he lived most of his life as an engineer and astronomer of which he is most widely revered as in history. Trying his hand to capture the spirit of the Renaissance, Galileo studied centuries of Florentine painters and revolutionary artists of those times, but was plagued with a mind of scientific thought. His views as compared to other artisans of the time were conflicting, “They looked at people and saw angels; he looked at the heavens, and didn’t” (Gopnik). This lead eventually led Galileo to pursue an education in the sciences by studying at the University of Pisa in the 1580’s. Here he was taught the Aristotelian orthodoxy, teachings from the thoughts of the great philosopher Aristotle. Yet again Galileo did not see eye to eye with the lessons and thought presented to him. The orthodoxy stressed the Earth as the center of the universe, the objects in the heavens were perfect, shiny, smooth and in constant …show more content…
In 1609, Galileo received word of a new device put into use by Dutch explorers, which had the ability to see ships and other objects and great distances. Receiving the basic blueprints from a friend, Galileo went to work developing a telescope of his very own. Within a few weeks, he had created his own and “One night in December, he turned it on the moon” (Gopnik). By doing such, he observed the surface of the moon was not perfect and smooth, but contained numerous craters and mountains. This fact alone contradicted the basis of Aristotelian orthodoxy stating, “Things up above were pure and shining and smooth” (Gopnik). Then by pointing his telescope towards Jupiter, Galileo observed four stars near the planet. These stars would always move in systematic directions near Jupiter but never getting much farther away from the planet. It was not long until Galileo realized that these “stars” were actually four moons orbiting Jupiter. Thus meaning the stars observed in the sky are not in a complex movement pattern around the Earth, rather the Earth is in a circular orbit around the sun. At least this is the perception that Galileo had of the solar system. Galileo revolutionized the study of astronomy with his observations of the heavens above and his intuitive
As the author states in the essay, “Galileo was born in Pisa on the day that Michelangelo died” (Gopnik), which translates to February 18th, 1564. Conversely, Gopnik continues on by saying that this date of birth is most likely inaccurate due to tampering of records. Growing up, Galileo was very close with and influenced by his father, a musician and a musical theorist, leading to his own study of the arts. Although the main study points of Galileo’s youth were of the arts, he lived most of his life as an engineer and astronomer of which he is most widely revered as in history. Trying his hand to capture the spirit of the Renaissance, Galileo studied centuries of Florentine painters and revolutionary artists of those times, but was plagued with a mind of scientific thought. His views as compared to other artisans of the time were conflicting, “They looked at people and saw angels; he looked at the heavens, and didn’t” (Gopnik). This lead eventually led Galileo to pursue an education in the sciences by studying at the University of Pisa in the 1580’s. Here he was taught the Aristotelian orthodoxy, teachings from the thoughts of the great philosopher Aristotle. Yet again Galileo did not see eye to eye with the lessons and thought presented to him. The orthodoxy stressed the Earth as the center of the universe, the objects in the heavens were perfect, shiny, smooth and in constant …show more content…
In 1609, Galileo received word of a new device put into use by Dutch explorers, which had the ability to see ships and other objects and great distances. Receiving the basic blueprints from a friend, Galileo went to work developing a telescope of his very own. Within a few weeks, he had created his own and “One night in December, he turned it on the moon” (Gopnik). By doing such, he observed the surface of the moon was not perfect and smooth, but contained numerous craters and mountains. This fact alone contradicted the basis of Aristotelian orthodoxy stating, “Things up above were pure and shining and smooth” (Gopnik). Then by pointing his telescope towards Jupiter, Galileo observed four stars near the planet. These stars would always move in systematic directions near Jupiter but never getting much farther away from the planet. It was not long until Galileo realized that these “stars” were actually four moons orbiting Jupiter. Thus meaning the stars observed in the sky are not in a complex movement pattern around the Earth, rather the Earth is in a circular orbit around the sun. At least this is the perception that Galileo had of the solar system. Galileo revolutionized the study of astronomy with his observations of the heavens above and his intuitive