Galileo Galilei15 February 1564–8 January

1642

Report of Kyla Cabautan

Galileo Galilei is best known as:

"father of observational astrononomy“

"father of modern physics “

"father of science".

His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments.

Galileo's championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to eithergeocentrism or the Tychonic system.He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of an observed stellar parallax.The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture."

With the telescope, Galileo was able to view of the universe,

such as:

1. The discovery of the four satellites, or moons or biting Jupiter.

2. Planets are circular disks rather than just points of light. -Indicated that planet must be Earthlike

3. He discovered that the Venus phases just like the moon, demonstrating that Venus orbits its source of light----- the sun.

4. The moon’s surface is not a smooth glass sphere, as the ancients had not suspected and the church had decreed.

5. The sun had sunspots

Summary of Galileo's

published written works

• Galileo's main written works are as follows:• The Little Balance (1586)• On Motion (1590)• Mechanics (ca. 1600)• The Starry Messenger (1610; in Latin, Sidereus Nuncius)• Discourse on Floating Bodies (1612)• Letters on Sunspots (1613)• Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615; published in 1636)• Discourse on the Tides (1616; in Italian, Discorso del flusso e reflusso del

mare)• Discourse on the Comets (1619; in Italian, Discorso Delle Comete)• The Assayer (1623; in Italian, Il Saggiatore)• Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632; in Italian Dialogo

dei due massimi sistemi del mondo)• Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences

(1638; in Italian, Discorsi e Dimostrazioni Matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze)

Sketch by Galileo of how he saw

Jupiter and its four largest satellites

through his telescope. The

positions of Jupiter’s first

largest moons (draw as stars) change nightly.

Using a telescope, Galileo discovered that Venus has phases just

like moon