David M. Bynog
HIST 333
23 January 1996

Galileo Galilei was born to Vincenzo Galilei and Giula Ammanananti on February 15, 1564 in Pisa. Vincenzo Galilei was an important musical figure belonging to the Florentine Camerata, a group devoted to a revival of the Greek dramatic and singing style. His contributions gave rise to monodies which were an early precursor of opera. Galileo was the eldest of seven children, and at age 11 was sent to the Abbey of Vallombrosa to be educated. He spent four years there and declared his intention to become a monk. At age 15, his father came for a visit, and unhappy with the care of his son, he abruptly removed him from the monastery. His father decided that he should learn the wool trade, and this is what he spent the next few years doing until his father decided he should go to the University of Pisa to study medicine. Galileo entered in the summer of 1581 and spent four years there skipping many courses and putting himself in danger of failing. Galileo was cutting classes to pursue an interest in mathematics, being privately tutored by Ostilio Ricci. Galileo left after four years without earning a degree, but he had already began his course of experiment and invention. In 1583 he had noticed the oscillations of a church lamp and noted how the motion was regular like a pulse. He experimented with lengths of string and weights and discovered that by varying the length of the string one could measure the rate and variance of a patient's pulse. He thus discovered that the pendulum was the best device for measuring time in small increments.

After leaving school, Galileo tutored students in mathematics and in 1592 earned a mathematics post at the University of Padua where he remained until 1610. During this time Galileo made several important discoveries and inventions, but was unhappy that his findings were not bringing in a great deal of money. He was constantly asking friends and patrons to lobby the Venetian Senate for more money so that he became known as a pest. One reason for need of money was that he had encountered a street wench in 1599 by the name of Maria Gamba, and proceeded to produce three bastards that he would support. Some of Galileo's inventions of the time was a thermoscope, a primitive thermometer, a pump that was driven by horses and a geometric and military compass called a sector. Galileo was one of the first persons to receive a patent on one of his invention in 1593 when he invented the pump. Galileo also made several important discoveries such as an explanation for tides, experiments with acceleration of motion and discovery of the parabolic path of projectiles. One of Galileo's most important findings was his invention of a telescope in 1610. Galileo had learned of a new invention that would allow one to see very distant objects, and Galileo duplicated the idea. With the aid of the telescope Galileo was able to observe sunspots, Jupiter and its satellites, and the moon, and come to several conclusions about other heavenly bodies that would get him in trouble with the church.

In 1610 he returned to Florence and began his teachings and writings that would call him before the Inquisition. in 1613 he publishes letters on sunspots which became the cause of a written complaint in 1615. He was charged with suspicion of heresy, reprimanded, and ordered not to teach or write any views that would support the Copernican view that the earth was not the center of the universe, or that the heavens could be flawed in any way. He returned to Florence in 1616 and in 1623 published the Assayer . In 1624 the work was charged in conflict with the teachings of the church but Galileo was exonerated. Around this time Galileo began work on his Dialogue which dealt with ideas of relativity in motion, inertia and the law of uniform acceleration. The book was published in 1632 and Galileo was again summoned to the inquisition. Though he claimed ill health, Galileo was forced to appear before the Inquisition where he was charged with disobeying the 1616 decree against supporting Copernican views. Galileo was found guilty, placed under house arrest and the Dialogue was ordered burned and his books were forbidden to be printed. Galileo continued to experiment and write and in 1636 completed Discourses on Two New Sciences. Galileo was in bad health for the next several years even going blind in 1637. Galileo finally succumbed to death on January 8, 1642.

Finocchiaro, Maurice A. The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1989.

Reston, James, Jr. Galileo. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1994.

Van Helden, A. The Galileo Project. http://es.rice.edu:80/ES/humsoc/Galileo.