Preview

How Did Galileo Galilei Enter The Telescope

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
490 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Galileo Galilei Enter The Telescope
Galileo Galilei was an esteemed astronomer who lived in the time of great discoveries. Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15th, 1564. He soon moved to Florence with his family where he began his education in a monastery in Vallombrosa. He enrolled in the University of Pisa seven years later to study medicine. However, Galileo soon became interested in mathematics and the physical sciences. This interest brought an end to his medical studies. He spent three years searching for a teaching position in Florence. At this time, Galileo wrote two treatises which made his name well known. In 1589, he was given a teaching position at the University of Pisa. Galileo’s father died in 1591 forcing him to leave Pisa and look for better work to support his family. Later, he found a job at the University of Padua. The year 1604 marked the beginning of his career in astronomy. He publicly declared himself a Copernican. Galileo Galilei made many discoveries that changed astronomy greatly. He used the telescope to observe the sky, he helped find information to support the Copernican theory, and he made many ground breaking discoveries that furthered the world’s astronomical knowledge. Galileo Galilei is one …show more content…
Contrary to popular belief, Galileo did not invent the telescope. A Dutch lens grinder secured a patent in 1608 for a device that magnified distant objects by combining two lenses. The instrument was originally used for terrestrial purposes. Galileo was intrigued. He built a telescope of his own with a magnifying power of about forty. On August 25th, 1609, he presented his invention to the Venetian Senate, which received tremendous success. This accomplishment helped him obtain a lifelong contract at the University of Padua. Galileo used the telescope to further his knowledge of the sky. He was the first person to record observations of the sky that were made with a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    He was one of the most important mathematicians since he did something that was revolutionary for his time he experimented. He experimented so he could prove a point to his teacher, Gioseffo Zarlino that there were non-Pythagorean mathematical relationships in the musical scale. Galiliei’s experimenting was particularly important since his son was Galileo Galiliaei and witnessed all the experiments that his father performed which had a deep impact on the younger Galilei. Galileo Galilei became famous for his attention to the study of motion. Galileo realized he could study the free fall of objects with a ball and an inclined plane. This would allow the motion of the ball to be slowed enough to be observed and measured, rather than a quick free fall. He kept repeating this experiment with steeper inclinations until the ball rolled too fast for him too measure. He was able to use his measurements and observations to explain the motion of free fall. When he rolled the ball over stiff lute strings tied across a tilted board it would make a clicking sound. His musician's ear was able to detect the timing of the ball over the strings as it rolled over them. He discovered that a “falling object doesn’t just drop, but drops faster and faster and faster and faster over time.” This is where he concluded that an object's speed increases over time as it falls downward. He was the first to develop the formula s = At2, which is used to calculate the free fall of any object toward earth. Galileo was not only famous for his study of motion though. Galileo was also known for his study on atoms. Galileo believed that atoms were the smallest quanta of matter and that there are an infinite number of atoms separated by an infinite number of voids. Galileo is best known for his telescopes though. At the time, people were very dismissive and critical of his telescopes though. It was necessary to calibrate his telescopes…

    • 4277 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ASTRO 102 Extra Credit

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The telescope was used since at least 1590, but Galileo was one of the first to use it on the heavens. He found observational evidence against traditional views as to craters on moon, phases of Venus and moons of Jupiter, to name a few. His main impact is being an aggressive popularizer of Copernican viewpoint and satirist of Aristotelian physics. Again, we go back to Aristotle. His concepts of instantaneous motion led to the development of Calculus around 1665-1666.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    With his telescope Galileo made quite a few spectacular discoveries. The moon, Jupiter, and the Milky Way were part of these discoveries. His discoveries were accomplished with a low powered telescope, lower than the telescopes we use today.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ever wonder what it would be like to invent something that would be used for hundreds of years to come? That’s what Galileo Galilei did. Galileo Galilei belongs in the house 8-1 Genius Hall of Fame. Born in 1564 in Florence, Italy, Galileo was the oldest of six children. In 1583, he attended the University of Pisa to study medicine but became fascinated with many other subjects, particularly mathematics and physics. He performed studies and tests on falling objects and then wrote a manuscript about the results that he got. Galileo Galilei achieved lots of greatness throughout his time, including inventing the telescope, and believing in himself and his intelligence when no one else did.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 21

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Galileo Galilei- (1564-1642) An Italian mathematician-physicist. In 1609 he made a telescope with which he discovered mountains on the moon, sunspots, the satellites of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Galileo Accomplishments

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages

    He was motivated by Copernicus's idea of the sun being the center of the universe which many astronomy acumens didn't agree with. Through his telescope, Galileo observed that planets existed on their own right. He was also able to observe the moon which he said was formed by Moon Mountains and craters. Although Galileo did not come into full agreement with Copernicus's initial idea of the sun being at the center of the universe, at least he agreed that there are some bodies in the universe which revolve around the sun (Dreyer, 1906). This means that Copernicus' idea was not far from the truth as confirmed by Galilei…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ruby Bridges Thesis

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Galileo was a very smart man. He created and discovered many amazing things, not all of which were accepted by the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. He created a telescope that magnified up to 20 times and began studying space in 1609, (“Galileo”). The telescope allowed him to see many things not visible to the human eye, such as the texture of the moon and Jupiter's four moons. Through the study of his findings Galileo discovered that Venus and Mercury revolve around the sun, and that confirmed his belief that the Sun was the center of the Universe.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His famous nickname is “The Father of Modern Science” because of his pioneering observations that made the foundation for modern physics and astronomy. Galileo as a young child earned a proper education in Florence at Camaldolese monastery, Vallombrosa. He then entered the University of Pisa to study medicine but he soon gained interest in mathematics and physics. As a professor in mathematics he made pioneering observations but Galileo was accused twice of heresy by the catholic church. Soon after accused Galileo died January 8, 1642.…

    • 1440 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    tornadoes

    • 1261 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The introduction of Galileo's refracting telescope was a significant event in history because of the conclusions Galileo proved using his instrument. He disproved the Roman Catholic Church's belief that the Earth was at the centre of the universe, instead of the Sun. He observed the moon-like areas on Venus that could only be true if the Sun was at the centre of the universe. He further discovered that the Moon did not have a smooth surface, but was covered with mountains and craters. Galileo also discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter, reinforcing that the Sun was at the centre of the universe. As all these primary discoveries were possible through a telescope, it laid the foundation for more telescopic developments and discoveries.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He applied mathematics to his experiments and also used a telescope to make astronomical observations. He discovered mountains on the moon, spots on the sun, and also the four moons of Jupiter; observations that contradicted traditional beliefs that the heavens were perfect. {EXT.} In a letter to Galileo, an Italian monk named Giovanni Campioli tells Galileo, “remove the possibility of malignant rumors by repeatedly showing your willingness to defer to the authority of those who have jurisdiction over the human intellect in matters of the interpretation of Scriptures.” (Doc. 6) This document may be biased because Campioli was a monk, a religious figure, and only considered the universe a religious subject and that, therefore, he thought would make him a more reliable source than Galileo. He wrote this letter perhaps to try and withhold his authority over religious persons and suppress Galileo by insinuating it was in everyone’s best interest. [POV] Galileo was eventually brought before the Italian Inquisition for his theories. The traditional religious beliefs obviously affected his work in a similar way as Copernicus as he had to be careful who he talked to for fear of being found out by the church. Both scientists were limited in what they could do because of the fact that they were contradicting what the church…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Galileo Paper

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Galileo would come to invent a thermoscope, which was the predecessor to the thermometer. He also published The Little Balance, which is what brought him to the attention of the scholarly world. Galileo furthered mankind's understanding of astronomy, applied science, as well as making significant improvements to the telescope. He pointed his telescope toward the night sky and discovered 4 moons around Jupiter that are now called the Galilean Moons. He would also use his understanding of ocean tides to make an argument for the fact that the earth moves around the sun, not the opposite, which was what was commonly accepted. The Catholic Church ordered that publishing's of Galileo could not contain references to ocean tides. Galileo was a large supporter of heliocentrism, which caused large amounts of controversy in the Catholic Church because the belief at the time was that the earth was the center of the universe. Galileo went to Rome to defend the scientific position on the issue, but "In 1616, an Inquisitional commission unanimously declared heliocentrism to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture."(Wiki). As a result of Galileo's trial in 1633, he was ordered to spend…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Galileo Galilei is one of the most well known and popular scientist beside Albert Einstein. At the very basis of what he did, Galileo changed how people looked at the world around them especially the solar system. Eventually the church held a trial against Galileo on the act of heresy and attack on the Aristotelian idea of the universe as the church and many others believed that the earth was at the center of the solar system not the sun. He also had many inventions which helped future scientists aid their studies of the planets and stars. Galileo also had many discoveries which he published in his Sidereus Nuncius. Galileo Galilei's discoveries affected the Age of Reason as well as people because of his revolutionary Discoveries, his inventions, and his encounter with backlash for the church.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Galileo Research Paper

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In this project I will be explaining about Galileo's life & what he contributed to our world. If you never actually knew exactly who was Galileo, then you should really read this project. In brief he was a great person who lived during the renaissance, and was a great follower of Copernicus. He was mostly an astronomer. Have you ever wondered when looking from a telescope, knowing that it was invented during the renaissance, who invented such a great thing at that time, think about it, what a great invention, I mean in that time to be able to see the stars which are so far away was something extremely amazing, today you think "wow, big deal" but at that time it really was a "big deal"!!!…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    He pioneered the foundation for modern astronomy and physics through his intricate and elaborate observations. Galileo was born on February 15, 1564 in Italy. He started the University of Pisa with the interest of going to medical school. Galileo was very intelligent with immense amounts of talent. He had many interests in mathematics and physics when attending the University. This is where Galileo was first open to the worldviews of Aristotle and the scientific ideas that were approved of by the Roman Catholic Church. Like majority of the intellectuals of the time, Galileo accepted the predestined ideas and was on his way to becoming a university professor, but due to the lack of available funds, Galileo had to drop out of school. Galileo kept on continuing his studies and this led him to discover many innovative findings. He developed the law of acceleration, advanced his findings on falling objects and motion, and supported Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. This went against the views of Aristotle, therefore it also went against the Catholic Church. Later Galileo found interest in telescopes and decided to create one of his own. He discovered that the moon was not a flat surface, but indeed it had craters and mountains. He also observed that Venus had phases similar to the moon’s and this resulted in findings that supported the idea of the sun being the…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was a believer of Copernicus's heliocentric theory. His discovery of the telescope (1609) allowed him to confirm the theory and his own beliefs. Galileo was first criticized by Friar Lorini. The Friar said that Copernicus's theory violated the scripture. Galileo responded with the Letter to Castelli, hoping it will give back some hope and trust in science. However, it did the opposite, and Lorini, sent a copy of the letter to the Inquisition (1615). On February 1616, Galileo was warned by Cardinal Bellarmine to keep quiet of his ideas or else stronger measures would be taken.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays