The father of modern science. Galileo Galilei The father of modern science.

Galileo: “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”

Fascinating Facts about Galileo: Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy, on the 15th of February 1564, he died on the 8th of January 1642. Galileo was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician, philosopher and inventor. Among his inventions were telescopes, a compass and a thermometer. Galileo enrolled to do a medical degree at the University of Pisa but never finished, instead choosing to study mathematics. He later taught at the University of Padova. Galileo built on the work of others to create a telescope with around 3x magnification, he later improved on this to make telescopes with around 30x magnification. Galileo was accused and found guilty of heresy by the Church because he said that the Sun is at the centre of the Universe. This is against the Church teachings of the time. Galileo was allowed to return to the village of Arcetri, outside Florence, where he lived under house arrest until he died.

Galileo’s Experiments and Discoveries

Galileo’s Telescope: Why do you think this was important? He was able to magnify by 30. This means that everything he looked at through the telescope was 30 times bigger. Why do you think this was important?

Ptolemy: The Earth is at the centre of the Universe.

Galileo used his telescope to prove Copernicus was correct Galileo used his telescope to prove Copernicus was correct. The Sun is at the centre of the Universe. This is called a heliocentric solar system.

Galileo also made some discoveries about gravity. He did this by dropping cannonballs from the top of the Tower of Pisa. What do you think he discovered?

A thermometer A pendulum clock

How did some of Galileo discoveries change the World?