Galileo+Galilei+Linceo

Physics Mathematics || Mario Guiducci Vincenzio Viviani ||
 * = [[image:http://www.grifotour.com/obj/image/Galileo_Galilei_3.jpg width="280" height="355" align="right" caption="Galileo Galilei"]] ||
 * = Born ||= February 15, 1564 ||
 * = Died ||= January 8, 1642 ||
 * = Nationality ||= Italian ||
 * = Fields of Study ||= Astronomy
 * = Notable Students ||= Benedetto Castelli


 * =Early Life=

Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei was the first of six children. His father, Vincenzo Galilei, was a famous lutenist and music theorist. He moved to Florence at the age of eight and studied at Camaldolese Monastery. He considered being a priest as a young man. ||  ||
 * =Career=

Galileo Galilei decided to earn a medical degree at the University of Pisa. Gaileo did not complete this degree, instead majoring in mathematics. He was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Pisa in 1589. He then taught geometry, mechanics, and astronomy at the University of Padua, where he made many famous discoveries and inventions. Galileo Galilei was also made the sixth member of the Accademia de Lincei. He became blind at the age of 72, which many thought was from his telescopic observations of the sun, but was really a combination of cataracts and glaucoma. || ||
 * =Inventions and Findings=
 * =Inventions and Findings=

Galileo is commonly mistaken for inventing the telescope. He did not invent it, Johann ( Hans) Lippershey invented it, Galileo simply improved it. Galileo viewed craters on the moon which led him to believe that the moon was made of the same matter as Earth. He also found four moons on Jupiter, which disproved that Earth was the only planet with a moon. Galileo also studied the phases of Venus, which proved the theory of heliocentrism. || ||
 * =Religious Controversies=

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same god who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”- GALILEO GALILEI

During his studies at the University of Padua, Nicholas Copernicus proposed a theory of heliocentrism, which is the theory that all the planets revolve around the sun. Galileo was a strong supported of this theory, studying it and making observations with his newly made telescopes. He believed that the moon was made out of the same matter as earth, which attacked the Catholic Church's beliefs in geocentrism. The Catholic Church believed that the earth was the was the center of the universe (geocentrism) and convicted Galileo of heresy and forced him to retract his support. He was also put on house arrest for the rest of his life. He was pardoned 300 years later. || ||
 * =Legacy=

Galileo has many nicknames. He is known as "The Father of Science" "The Father of Modern Science" and "The Father of Physics." Stephen Hawking said, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science." 2009 was named The International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations because it was 400 years since Galileo's first telescope was made. || ||
 * =References=

http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Galileo.html http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/galile.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/galileo.html ||  ||