Galileo Galilei: The Life Of Galileo

Superior Essays
Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy in 1564 during the Renaissance.This was a rebirthing period in Europe started off in Italy for art, philosophy, and sciences. The Renaissance brought back many ideas from Ancient Greece and Rome introducing many scientists like Galileo. Attending the University of Pisa originally going to study medicine, he was taught the Aristotelian view on the world, later questioning it making way for many of his greatest discoveries. He was an outstanding astronomer, physicist, philosopher and mathematician where he played a leading role in science during that time. Galileo is probably mostly known for his telescopic discoveries, but one cannot forget about his marvelous contributions to physics. Some of the …show more content…
One of the fundamental philosophies in Aristotelian philosophy was if there are two objects and one is two times heavier than the other one, the heavier one should fall two times faster than the lighter one. Galileo thought if a body is in freefall, their weight doesn 't determine speed but gravity does. He tested this by dropping objects from heights only to find out his theory wasn 't correct. He stated that the lighter object will go faster than the heavier object at first, but then the heavier body gains speed and arrives at the ground a few seconds before the lighter object does. This is another experiment that some argue Galileo never truly did any experiments on regarding this theory. But when Galileo’s said experiment was tested by some students using a spherical wooden ball and another one made of iron, the wooden ball was ahead of the iron balls when falling. The explanation for this is that since the iron ball is slightly heavier than the wooden balls, it took longer to release the iron ball. This later became known as the Law of Falling Bodies or the Law of Acceleration. Reported by Helden (1995) “...and in the end he arrived at the law of falling bodies which states that in a vacuum all bodies, regardless of their weight, shape, or specific gravity, are uniformly accelerated in …show more content…
As stated in Helden(1995) “Weighing precious metals in air and then in water was presumably a practice that was common among jewelers in Europe.” (p.1) . He then used the water displacement method and saw the crown is in fact not all gold. Galileo then wrote a paper about how to accurately weigh things in the air and in water by being hung with a metal wire. The amount the weight had been moved in the water, and by reading the spins in wire shows the ratio of gold to silver. To conclude Galileo Galilei helped pave the way for modern physics during the Renaissance period with his vast knowledge and theories. During his lifetime, he came up with inertia, friction, acceleration, hydrostatic balance, and displacement. Each and every one of these discoveries have helped revolutionize physics, advancing theories and ways of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564, in Pisa, Italy. He was the first of six children born to Vincenzo Galilei, a well-known musician and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati. In 1574, his family moved to Florence, where Galileo began his formal education at the Camaldolese monastery in Vallombrosa. Galileo Galilei is remembered for several things but one in particular was making observations that essentially set the foundation for modern physics and astronomy. Galileo was never married, however, he did have a brief relationship with Marina Gamba, a woman he had met on one of his many trips to Venice.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Section One: New Views of the Universe 1. What was the old (incorrect) Ptolemaic view of the universe? Ptolemaic view was that everything revolved around Earth. 2 Summarize Copernicus’ heliocentric system Copernicus’ view was that everything revolved around the sun.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Galileo Galilei was an Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer born on February 15, 1564. In 1581 Galileo attended the university of Pisa, where he was supposed to study medicine. However, he had a passion for mathematics and went thru that path. What brought him to the science of astronomy was that he heard about the invention of an artefact that made possible to see things far away as if there where nearby. Today he is going to give a lecture in astronomy.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. He was a physicist, mathematician, astronomer and a philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific revolution. In 1609 he made the first effective use of the refracting telescope to discover important new facts about astronomy. Galileo discovered the law of falling bodies as well as the law of the pendulum. He designed a variety of scientific instruments and also his famous telescope.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the time win Galileo Galilee wanted to a Science ear. Galileo farther want Galileo to be a to study medicine to be a Dr. Galileo want to be science. Well Galileo did go to the University of Pisa to study medicine. I to make his farther happy. Galileo Galilee was born in Italy February 15,1564.…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Galileo Accomplishments

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When he showed his findings to the Grand Duke, Cosimo II de Medici, they were named “Galilean stars” in honoring of him. Galileo invented the first pendulum. He started researching it while watching lamps swing as a medical student, but…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scientific Revolution Dbq

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Brahe agreed with the Copernican hypothesis Europe’s leading astronomer Built observatory Believed that all the planets revolved around the sun Johannes Kepler formulated three laws of motion that mathematically proved the precise relations of a sun-centered system Orbits of the planets around the sun are elliptical rather than circular The planets do not move at a constant speed in their orbits Galileo Galilei challenged all the old ideas about motion Formulated the law of inertia An object continues in motion forever unless stopped by some external force Tried for heresy by the papal Inquisition The traditional religious and theological world-view was beginning to give way Newton’s Synthesis In his famous book Newton connected the astronomy of Copernicus and Kepler with the physics of Galileo Causes of the Scientific Revolution Medieval intellectual life and universities provided the framework for the new science…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Going against the common belief, because of new found data, is a prime example of how science helped promote the individualism of Copernicus. Another exhibit of individualism working through science is the experimental method founded by Galileo. Galileo was a scientist who challenged the beliefs of motion. He believed that theories could not be based on what should happen, but what actually happened, thus came the experimental method. The experimental method is exactly how it sounds, Galileo believed one must test something multiple times before believing it was true.…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    History Paper Draft Galileo Galilei once said, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Despite the heavy opposition Galileo Galilei had to go through regarding the church, he was a great man of science. His discoveries and achievements had a huge impact on the Scientific Revolution and they are still widely used today in modern science. David Wootton, the author of Galileo: Watcher of the Skies, is a Professor of History.…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Johannes Kepler had an unique life which had many peaks and many valleys, he was born December 27,1571. His childhood was very rough because his parents were very poor and he was a sickly child. Their family had no money for medicine and his illness. Fortunately his intelligence bought him a scholarship to a very nice college.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This countered the classic Aristotelian view because if the moon was made of “ether,” it could not have a rocky surface like the Earth. Moreover, this observation provided evidence that if a large rocky Moon could move in a continuous orbit (which it does), then so could a large rocky Earth. This disproved Aristotle’s view for why the Earth was stationary. Next, Galileo observed “sunspots,” or darker…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    His inclined plane experiments showed that a body accelerated uniformly as it rolled down the plane and that the absence of external forces would allow falling bodies to reach the ground at the same time. He was able to develop laws for calculating the final velocity and distance of a falling body by using his pulse, a sandglass, and the experiment. This experiment became crucial to developing the laws of inertia and answering the anti-Copernican argument that Earth rotating and revolving through space would leave birds behind. Galileo also dealt a hand in astronomy that would challenge the geocentric model of the universe; his discoveries such as the phases of Venus and seasonal variation of sunspots added to the confirmation…

    • 1434 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Galileo’s Trial Galileo Galilei, one of the smartest scientists in the world to ever live. He played a major role in the Scientific Revolution, discovering a variety of things using his telescope. If Galileo seemed like a good guy, what exactly did he do to be put on trial? The historical piece analyzed for this journal is known as “Trial of Galileo Galilei”, written on May 10, 1633.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Galileo and Socrates both offer various methods of arriving at conclusions within their philosophies and studies, each articulating specific information to their followers as they advocate through either science or philosophy. Within the Republic, Socrates offers his stance on justice and its placement within a city run by philosophers through reasoning. However, within the Sidereal Messenger, Galileo offers his account of information through the scientific method, a method that uses facts to support his cause. These two approaches vary immensely, each contrasting in their approach to the justification of their work and therefore cannot be used interchangeably. As Galileo’s scientific method allowed him to concoct factual evidence surrounding his findings, this approach would naturally not enable Socrates to prove his ideologies as it is merely theoretical pondering, not evidence based conclusions that can be proved in reality, therefore the methods used by Galileo would not be feasible to test…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Leonardo Da Vinci, the ideal Renaissance man, was born in Vinci, Italy in 1452. Leonardo was one of 17 children with no strong mother figure in his life, but lived with his father, Ser Piero. From a young age, Leonardo loved art, and began apprenticing under Andrea del Verrocchio, a notable artist in Florence. He grew up living in Milan and Florence, where he gained significant knowledge about art and science. He developed a lust for knowledge, and wanted to learn as much as he could about a variety of subjects.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays