Galileo was an Italian astronomer and physicist, who was one of the first to use the newly invented telescope. With the telescope, he was the first to see the four large moons of Jupiter, which proved that not every object in the sky orbited the earth. Galileo always believed in Copernicus' view of a sun centered universe; a belief that would cause him a great deal of grief with the Church as time went on.
Galileo also observed mountains and valleys on the moon, discovered sunspots(which would lead almost to blindness), and saw the phases of Venus.
In physics, Galileo would discover the laws of falling bodies and the motions of projectiles, but it is his conflict with the Church that makes him stand out as a leader in the battle of free inquiry. Galileo, now an old man was forced by the Inquisition to recant on his beliefs about the earth going around the sun and such things. Subject to arrest for teaching that the earth moves, he was left with no alternative but to recant on the idea that it does. However, legend has it that as Galileo was leaving the Inquisition he remarked, "but indeed it does move". It wasn't until 1992, that Pope John Paul II admitted the Church's error and exonerated Galileo. |
