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Galileo Galilei Biographies / Famous Namesakes / Names / Surnames / Patronymic names / First name and patronymic / Horoscopes / Tests / Events / Home Galileo Galilei biography
True knowledge is the knowledge of the causes of Galileo Galilei (ital.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian scientist, physicist, mechanic, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, one of the founders of natural science; poet, philologist and critic.
He fought against scholasticism, considered experience to be the basis of knowledge.
He laid the foundations of modern mechanics: put forward the idea of the relativity of motion, established the laws of inertia, free fall and motion of bodies on an inclined plane, the addition of movements; discovered the isochrony of pendulum oscillations; was the first to investigate the strength of beams.
Galileo Galilei built a telescope with 32x magnification and discovered mountains on the Moon [gor], 4 satellites of Jupiter[gor], phases of Venus [myth]/[gor], spots on the Sun[gor].
He actively defended the heliocentric system of the world, for which he was subjected to the Inquisition (1633), which forced him to renounce the teachings of Nicolaus Copernicus.
Until the end of his life, Galileo was considered a "prisoner of the Inquisition" and was forced to live in his villa Arcetri near Florence.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared the decision of the Inquisition court erroneous and rehabilitated Galileo.
Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa.
The zodiac sign is Aquarius.
Scientific representations of the 2nd half of the 16th century.
The role of Galileo In the years of Galileo's childhood and youth, ideas formed in the times of antiquity almost completely dominated.
Some of them, for example, the geometry of Euclid and the statics of Archimedes, have retained their significance even today.
The observations of astronomers also accumulated a lot of baggage, which led to the emergence of the Ptolemaic world system, progressive for its time (2nd century AD).
However, many provisions of ancient science, which eventually acquired the status of indisputable dogmas, did not stand the test of time and were rejected when experience was recognized as the main arbiter in science.
First of all, this applies to the mechanics of Aristotle and many of his other natural scientific ideas.
It was these erroneous propositions that became the foundation of the official "ideological credo", and it took not only the ability to think independently, but also simply the courage to oppose it.
One of the first to do this was Galileo Galilei.
The beginning of the way Galileo Galilei came from a noble, but impoverished noble family.
His father, a musician and mathematician, wanted his son to become a doctor,and in 1581, after graduating from the monastery school, he assigned him to the medical faculty of the University of Pisa.
But medicine did not attract a seventeen year old boy.
After leaving the university, he went to Florence and immersed himself in the independent study of the works of Euclid and Archimedes.
On the advice of Professor Ricci of Philosophy and yielding to the requests of his son, Galileo's father transferred him to the Faculty of Philosophy, where philosophy and mathematics were studied in more depth.
In his childhood, Galileo was fond of designing mechanical toys, making working models of cars, mills and ships.
As his disciple Viviani later told, Galileo was distinguished by a rare observation in his youth, thanks to which he made his first important discovery: observing the swinging of the chandelier in the Pisa Cathedral, he established the law of isochrony of the pendulum oscillations (the independence of the oscillation period from the deviation value).
Some researchers question Viviani's account of the circumstances of this discovery, but it is reliably known that Galileo Galilei not only tested this law on experiments, but also used it to determine time intervals, which, in particular, was enthusiastically accepted by doctors.
The ability to observe and draw conclusions from what he saw always distinguished Galileo.
Even in his youth, he realized that " ... the phenomena of nature, no matter how insignificant, no matter how unimportant they may seem in all respects, should not be despised by a philosopher, but all should be equally revered.
Nature achieves great things by small means, and all its manifestations are equally amazing."
In essence, this statement can be considered a declaration of Galileo's experimental approach to the study of natural phenomena.
In 1586, Galileo Galilei published a description of hydrostatic scales designed by him, designed to measure the density of solids and determine the centers of gravity.
This, like his other works, is noticed.
He has influential patrons, and thanks to their patronage, he gets a professor's position at the University of Pisa in 1589 (although with a minimum salary).
After three years at the University of Pisa, having started lecturing in philosophy and mathematics at the university, Galileo was faced with a difficult choice.
On the one hand, the views of Aristotle that have acquired the status of inviolable dogmas, on the other hand, the fruits of their own reflections and, more importantly, experience.
Aristotle argued that the speed of falling bodies is proportional to their weight.
This statement was already in doubt, and the observations made by Galileo in the presence of numerous witnesses of the fall from the Tower of Pisa of balls of different weights, but of the same size, clearly refuted it.
Aristotle taught that different bodies have a different "property of lightness", which is why some bodies fall faster than others, that the concept of rest is absolute, that in order for a body to move, it must constantly be pushed by air, and therefore, the movement of bodies indicates the absence of emptiness.
Already in 1590, a year after starting work in Pisa, Galileo Galilei wrote a treatise "On the movement", in which he made sharp objections to the views of the peripatetics (followers of Aristotle).
This could not but cause a sharply disapproving attitude towards him on the part of representatives of state owned scholastic science.
In addition, Galileo was severely strapped for funds at that time, and therefore was glad to receive (again thanks to his patron) an invitation from the government of the Republic of Venice to work at the University in Padua.
The Paduan period The transfer in 1592 to the University of Padua, where Galileo took the chair of mathematics, marked the beginning of the most fruitful period in his life.
Here he comes close to studying the laws of dynamics, explores the mechanical properties of materials, invents the first of the physical devices for studying thermal processes — a thermoscope, improves the telescope and is the first to guess how to use it for astronomical observations, here he becomes the most active and authoritative supporter of the Copernican system, gaining the gratitude and respect of descendants and the active hostility of numerous contemporaries.
The most important achievement of Galileo Galilei in dynamics was the creation of the principle of relativity, which became the basis of modern relativity theory.
Having resolutely rejected Aristotle's ideas about motion, Galileo came to the conclusion that motion (meaning only mechanical processes) relatively, that is, it is impossible to talk about motion without specifying in relation to which "reference body" it occurs; the laws of motion are irrelevant, and therefore, being in a closed cabin (he figuratively wrote "in a closed room under the deck of a ship"), it is impossible to establish by any experiments whether this cabin is at rest or moves uniformly and rectilinearly ("without shocks", as Galileo put it).
The thermoscope was actually the prototype of the thermometer, and in order to approach its invention, Galileo had to radically revise the existing ideas about heat and cold at that time.
The first news about the invention of the spyglass in Holland reached Venice already in 1609.
Interested in this discovery, Galileo significantly improved the device.
On January 7, 1610, a significant event occurred: after pointing the built telescope (with about 30 times magnification) at the sky, Galileo noticed three bright points near the planet Jupiter; these were the satellites of Jupiter (later Galileo discovered a fourth).
By repeating the observations at certain intervals, he made sure that the satellites were orbiting Jupiter.
This served as a visual model of the Keplerian system, which Galileo's reflections and experience made a staunch supporter of.
There were other important discoveries that further undermined the credibility of the official cosmogony with its dogma about the immutability of the universe: a new star appeared; the invention of the telescope made it possible to detect the phases of Venus and make sure that the Milky Way consists of a huge number of stars.
Having discovered sunspots and observing their movement, Galileo Galilei quite correctly explained this by the rotation of the Sun.
The study of the moon's surface showed that it is covered with mountains and pitted with craters.
Even this cursory list would allow us to rank Galileo among the greatest astronomers, but his role was exceptional already because he made a truly revolutionary revolution, marking the beginning of instrumental astronomy as a whole.
Galileo himself understood the importance of his astronomical discoveries.
He described his observations in an essay published in 1610 under the proud title "The Starry Messenger".
After the publication of the "Star Messenger" with the dedication to the new Tuscan Duke Cosimo II de ' Medici, Galileo accepts the Duke's invitation to return to Florence, where he becomes a court "philosopher" and "first mathematician" of the university, without the obligation to lecture.
By that time, the fame of Galileo's works had spread throughout Italy, causing the admiration of some and the fierce hatred of others.
However, for some time, hostile feelings did not manifest themselves.
Moreover, when Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome in 1611, he was given an enthusiastic reception by the" first persons " of the city and the church.
He did not yet know that a secret surveillance was established for him.
By 1612, the offensive of Galileo's opponents intensified.
In 1613, his disciple Abbot Castelli, a professor at the University of Pisa, informs him that the question of the incompatibility of Galileo's discoveries with the Holy Scriptures has been raised, and the mother of the Duke of Tuscany is actively among the accusers.
In his reply to Castelli, which was essentially a program document, Galileo Galilei gave a deep and detailed answer to all the accusations, making an attempt to clearly distinguish the spheres of science and the church.
For almost two years, the church was silent, perhaps not having accurate information about the letter, although it was already known about it in Pisa, Rome and Florence.
When a copy of the letter (moreover, with deliberate distortions) was sent to the Inquisition, Galileo, who learned about it, went to Rome in early February 1616 in the hope of defending his teaching.
The first process of the circumstances and this time favored Galileo.
Shortly before his arrival in Rome, an essay by a priest appeared, in which the idea was expressed that the teachings of Copernicus did not contradict religion.
Letters of recommendation from the Duke of Tuscany convinced the Inquisition that Galileo's accusations of heresy were groundless.
Galileo Galilei, however, had to solve the most difficult task: to legalize his scientific views, and he began to act.
According to the memoirs of his contemporaries, Galileo had a brilliant gift as a popularizer and polemicist, and his numerous speeches were an undoubted success.
But he overestimated the power of scientific arguments and underestimated the power of the defenders of ideological dogmas.
In March 1616, the congregation of the Jesuits issued a decree declaring the teachings of Copernicus heretical and his books banned.
Galileo's name was not mentioned in the decree, but he was privately ordered to repent to the church and renounce his views.
Galileo formally obeyed the order and had to change his tactics.
For many years, he did not openly promote the teachings of Copernicus.
During this period, Galileo published the only major work — the polemical treatise "Assay Scales" (1623) about the three comets that appeared in 1618.
In form, wit and refinement of style, this is one of the best works of Galileo.
Although the open defense of the Copernican system was prohibited, the form of a dispute dialogue was not prohibited.
In 1630, Galileo Galilei went to Rome with a finished manuscript of the "Dialogue on the Tides", where in the form of a conversation between three interlocutors, an idea of the two main systems of the world — Ptolemy and Copernicus is given.
After two years of fighting censorship, Galileo receives permission to publish the book.
It was published in August 1632 in Florence under the title "A dialogue about two systems of the world Ptolemaic and Copernican".
The second process, the publication of the book, the news of which quickly spread around Europe, caused an immediate reaction of the Inquisition.
On November 23, 1632, Galileo was ordered to appear in Rome.
Despite his advanced age and illness,his request for a postponement remains unheeded.
In February 1633, Galileo was taken to Rome on a stretcher.
Until April 12, he lives in the house of the Tuscan envoy, and then he is placed in the prison of the Inquisition.
Interrogations, demands for renunciation, threats of torture, and perhaps the most terrible thing the destruction of all his works.
Galileo's attempts to justify that the "Dialogues" are just a discussion are unsuccessful this time.
They only increase the irritation of the judges.
On June 22, Galileo Galilei is brought to the Dominican monastery of St. Minerva, forced to sign a renunciation and on his knees to offer public repentance.
In the last years After the trial, Galileo was declared a "prisoner of the holy Inquisition", and his place of residence was determined first by the ducal palace in Rome, and then by the Villa Arcetri near Florence.
Until 1637, when he lost his sight, Galileo continued to work hard and completed the preparation of the book "Conversations and Mathematical Proofs concerning two new branches of science related to mechanics and Local Motion", which summarizes all his achievements in the field of mechanics.
In this book, in contrast to the" Dialogues", the presentation is constructed as if the polemic with the supporters of Aristotle has lost its relevance, and it is necessary to assert new scientific views.
The book tells about four "Days".
The beginning of the first of them is devoted to the question of the speed of light; then we discuss the motion by inertia and the features of the oscillations of pendulums, which leads Galileo to wonderful ideas about the propagation of waves in general and acoustic waves in particular.
The "second day" is dedicated to the hardness and destruction of materials.
The next two "Days" are devoted to issues of dynamics, including the movement of bodies along an inclined plane.
Thanks to the help of friends, his last book was published during the life of Galileo, which gave him great joy.
Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642 at the Villa Arcetri.
In 1732, according to the last will of Galileo, his ashes were transferred to the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, where he is buried next to Michelangelo. (V. I. Grigoriev)
A brilliant politician, Galileo was not only a brilliant scientist, but also a brilliant politician.
Finding himself in a difficult financial situation by 1609 (huge debts after marrying his sisters), the astronomer successfully used his discovery of the moons of Jupiter, calling them "Medicean stars": "Instead of dividing the discovery among his patrons — giving one a telescope he used, dedicating a book to another, etc. — as he had done before, he decided to focus his efforts on the Medici.
The Medici were chosen by him for one reason: shortly after Cosimo I founded the Medici dynasty in 1540, he chose Jupiter, the most powerful of the gods, as the symbol of the house of Medici — a symbol of power that extended beyond politics and money, power dating back to ancient Rome and its deities.
Galileo presented his discovery of the moons of Jupiter as a cosmic event celebrating the greatness of the Medici.
Shortly after the discovery, he announced that "bright stars (satellites of Jupiter) appeared in the sky" in front of his telescope at the time of the coronation of Cosimo II.
He stated that the number of moons — four — coincides with the number of members of the House of Medici (Cosimo II had three brothers) and that the moons revolve around Jupiter, as the four sons revolve around Cosimo 1, the founder of the dynasty.
This was more than just a coincidence, it indicated that the sky itself reflected the rise of the Medici dynasty.
After he dedicated the discovery to the Medici, Galileo prepared an emblem depicting Jupiter sitting on a cloud surrounded by four stars, and presented it to Cosimo II as a symbol of his connection with the stars.
In 1610, Cosimo II officially appointed Galileo a court philosopher and mathematician, on a full salary.
For the scientist, this was a vital success.
The time when he, like a beggar, begged for handouts was over" (Green, 2003, pp. 33-34) More about Galileo Galilei: The name of this man caused both admiration and hatred among his contemporaries.
Nevertheless, he went down in the history of world science not only as a follower of Giordano Bruno, but also as one of the greatest scientists of the Italian Renaissance.
Until the age of eleven, Galileo lived in Pisa and studied at an ordinary school, and then moved with his family to Florence, where he continued his education at the Benedictine monastery, where he studied grammar, arithmetic, rhetoric and other subjects.
At the age of seventeen, Galileo entered the University of Pisa and began to prepare for the profession of a doctor.
At the same time, out of curiosity, he read works on mathematics and mechanics, in particular, Euclid and Archimedes, the latter later Galileo always called his teacher.
Due to the straitened financial situation, the young man had to leave the University of Pisa and return to Florence.
At home, Galileo independently engaged in an in depth study of mathematics and physics, which he was very interested in.
In 1586, he wrote his first scientific work "Small hydrostatic scales", which brought him some fame and allowed him to meet several scientists.
Under the patronage of one of them — the author of the "Textbook of Mechanics" Guido Ubaldo del Monte, Galileo Galilei received a chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589.
At the age of twenty five, he became a professor where he studied, but did not complete his education.
Galileo taught students mathematics and astronomy, which he expounded, of course, according to Ptolemy.
It is at this time that the experiments that he set up, throwing various bodies from the leaning Tower of Pisa, to check whether they fall in accordance with the teachings of Aristotle — heavy faster than light.
The answer was negative.
In his work "On Motion" (1590), Galileo Galilei criticized the Aristotelian doctrine of the fall of bodies.
In it, by the way, he wrote: "If reason and experience coincide in something, it does not matter to me that it contradicts the opinion of the majority."
The same period includes the establishment of By Galileo, the isochrony of small oscillations of a pendulum is the independence of the period of its oscillations from the amplitude.
He came to this conclusion by watching the chandeliers swing in the Cathedral of Pisa and noting the time by the pulse on his hand...
Guido del Monte highly appreciated Galileo as a mechanic and called him "The Archimedes of modern times".
Galileo's criticism of the physical representations of Aristotle by Galileo restored numerous supporters of the ancient Greek scientist against him.
The young professor became very uncomfortable in Pisa, and he accepted an invitation to take the chair of mathematics at the famous University of Padua.
The Padua period is the most fruitful and happy in the life of Galileo.
Here he found a family, linking his fate with Marina Gamba, who gave birth to two daughters: Virginia (1600) and Livia (1601); later a son Vincenzo (1606) was born.
Since 1606, Galileo Galilei has been engaged in astronomy.
In March 1610, his work entitled "The Starry Messenger"was published.
It is unlikely that there has ever been so much sensational astronomical information reported in one work, which was also made literally during several night observations in January — February of the same year 1610.
Having learned about the invention of the telescope and having a good own workshop, Galileo makes several samples of spotting tubes, constantly improving their quality.
As a result, the scientist managed to make a telescope with a magnification of 32 times.
On the night of January 7, 1610, he directs the telescope to the sky.
What he saw there — the lunar landscape, mountain ranges and peaks casting shadows, valleys and seas already led to the idea that the Moon was similar to the Earth — a fact that did not support religious dogmas and the teachings of Aristotle about the special position of the Earth among the celestial bodies.
A huge white stripe in the sky — the Milky Way when viewed through the telescope, it was clearly divided into individual stars.
Near Jupiter, the scientist noticed small stars (first three, then another), which changed their position relative to the planet the next night.
Galileo, with his kinematic perception of natural phenomena, did not need to think for a long time — before him are the moons of Jupiter!
— another argument against the exceptional position of the Earth.
Galileo discovered the existence of four moons of Jupiter.
Later, Galileo Galilei discovered the phenomenon of Saturn [horus] (although he did not understand what it was about) and discovered the phases of Venus.
Observing how sunspots move on the solar surface, he found that the Sun also rotates around its axis.
Based on his observations, Galileo concluded that rotation around the axis is characteristic of all celestial bodies.
Observing the starry sky, he was convinced that the number of stars is much more than can be seen with a simple eye.
So Galileo confirmed Giordano Bruno's idea that the vastness of the universe is infinite and inexhaustible.
After that, Galileo Galilei concluded that the heliocentric system of the world proposed by Copernicus is the only true one.
Galileo's telescopic discoveries were met by many with distrust, even with hostility, but the supporters of the Copernican doctrine, and above all Johann Kepler, who immediately published "Conversation with the Star Messenger", reacted to them with delight, seeing in this confirmation of the correctness of their beliefs.
The "Starry Messenger" brought the scientist European fame.
The Tuscan Duke Cosimo II de ' Medici invited Galileo to take the position of a court mathematician.
It promised a comfortable existence, free time for studying science, and the scientist accepted the offer.
In addition, it allowed Galileo to return to his homeland, to Florence.
Now, having a powerful patron in the person of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Galileo Galilei begins to propagate the teachings of Copernicus more and more boldly.
The clerical circles are alarmed.
Galileo's authority as a scientist is high, his opinion is listened to.
So, many will decide, the doctrine of the movement of the Earth is not just one of the hypotheses of the structure of the world, which simplifies astronomical calculations.
The concern of the ministers of the church about the triumphant spread of the Copernican doctrine is well explained by a letter from Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino to one of his correspondents: "When it is claimed that under the assumption that the Earth moves and the Sun stands still, all the observed phenomena are explained better than under... according to the geocentric system of Ptolemy, this is perfectly said and does not involve any danger; and this is enough for mathematics; but when they begin to say that the Sun actually stands at the center of the world and that it only rotates around itself, but does not move from east to west, and that the Earth is in the third heaven and rotates around
the Sun with great speed, this is a very dangerous thing, and not only because it irritates all philosophers and learned theologians, but also because it harms the holy faith, since it implies the falsity of the Holy Faith.
The Scriptures."
Denunciations of Galileo poured into Rome.
In 1616, at the request of the Congregation of the Holy Index (an ecclesiastical institution responsible for issues of permits and prohibitions), eleven prominent theologians examined the teachings of Copernicus and came to the conclusion that it was false.
On the basis of this conclusion, the heliocentric doctrine was declared heretical, and Copernicus ' book "On the circulation of the Celestial Spheres" was included in the index of prohibited books.
At the same time, all books that supported this theory were banned — those that existed and those that will be written in the future.
Galileo Galilei was summoned from Florence to Rome and in a mild but categorical form demanded to stop promoting heretical ideas about the structure of the world.
The exhortation was conducted by the same Cardinal Bellarmino.
Galileo was forced to comply.
He did not forget how Giordano Bruno's persistence in the "heresy"ended.
Moreover, as a philosopher, he knew that" heresy " today becomes the truth tomorrow.
In 1623, under the name of Urban VIII, Galileo's friend Cardinal Maffeo Barberini became pope.
The scientist is in a hurry to Rome.
He hopes to achieve the abolition of the prohibition of the" hypothesis " of Copernicus, but in vain.
The Pope explains to Galileo that now, when the Catholic world is torn apart by heresy, it is unacceptable to question the truth of the holy faith.
Galileo Galilei returns to Florence and continues to work on a new book, without losing hope of ever publishing his work.
In 1628, he once again visited Rome to scout the situation and find out the attitude of the highest hierarchs of the church to the teachings of Copernicus.
In Rome, he meets the same intolerance, but it does not stop him.
Galileo finishes the book and in 1630 presents it to the Congregation.
The censored review of Galileo's work lasted for two years, followed by a ban.
Then Galileo decided to publish his work in his native Florence.
He managed to deftly deceive the local censors, and in 1632 the book was published.
The book was called "A dialogue about the two most important systems of the world — Ptolemaic and Copernican" and was written as a dramatic work.
For censorship reasons, Galileo is forced to be careful: the book is written in the form of a dialogue between two supporters of Copernicus and one adherent of Aristotle and Ptolemy, and each of the interlocutors tries to understand the other's point of view, assuming its validity.
In the preface, Galileo is forced to state that, since the teaching of Copernicus is contrary to the holy faith and is forbidden, he is not at all a supporter of it and in the book the theory of Copernicus is only discussed, not approved.
But neither the preface nor the form of presentation could hide the truth: the dogmas of Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic astronomy suffer such an obvious collapse here, and the Copernican theory triumphs so convincingly that, contrary to what was said in the preface, Galileo's personal attitude to the Copernican teaching and his conviction of the validity of this teaching are not in doubt.
However, it follows from the presentation that Galileo Galilei still believed in the uniform and circular motion of the planets around the Sun, i.e. he failed to evaluate and did not accept Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
He also did not agree with Kepler's assumptions about the causes of the tides (the attraction of the Moon), instead developing his own theory of this phenomenon, which turned out to be incorrect.
The church authorities were furious.
The sanctions followed immediately.
The sale of the "Dialogue" was banned, and Galileo was summoned to Rome for trial.
In vain, the seventy year old elder presented the testimony of three doctors that he was ill.
They reported from Rome that if he did not come voluntarily, he would be brought by force, in shackles.
And the elderly scientist set off on his way.
"I arrived in Rome," writes Galileo in one of his letters, " on February 10, 1633, and put myself at the mercy of the Inquisition and the holy father..
At first I was locked up in the Trinity Castle on the mountain, and the next day the commissioner of the Inquisition visited me and took me away in his carriage.
On the way, he asked me various questions and expressed the wish that I would stop the scandal caused in Italy by my discovery concerning the movement of the earth...
To all the mathematical proofs that I could oppose to him, he answered me with words from the Holy Scriptures: "The earth was and will be stationary forever and ever."
The investigation lasted from April to June 1633, and on June 22, in the same church, almost at the same place where Giordano Bruno heard the death sentence, Galileo, on his knees, pronounced the text of the abdication offered to him.
Under the threat of torture, Galileo, refuting the accusation that he violated the ban on promoting the Copernican doctrine, was forced to admit that he "unconsciously" contributed to confirming the correctness of this doctrine, and publicly renounce it By doing so, humiliated the famous Galileo Galilei understood that the process initiated by the Inquisition would not stop the triumphal march of the new teaching, he himself needed time and opportunity for further development of the ideas laid down in the "Dialogue" so that they would become the beginning of a classical system of the world in which there would be no place for church dogmas.
This process has caused irreparable damage to the Church.
Galileo did not give up, although in the last years of his life he had to work in the most difficult conditions.
At his villa in Arcetri, he was under house arrest (under the constant supervision of the Inquisition).
Here is what Galileo Galilei writes, for example, to his friend in Paris: "In Arcetri, I live under the strictest prohibition not to go to the city and not to receive many friends at the same time, nor to communicate with those whom I receive except with extreme restraint...
And it seems to me that... my current prison will be replaced only by the long and narrow one that awaits us all."
For two years, Galileo Galilei has been in prison writing " Conversations and Mathematical Proofs...", where, in particular, he sets out the basics of dynamics.
When the book is finished, the entire Catholic world (Italy, France, Germany, Austria) refuses to print it.
In May 1636, the scientist negotiates the publication of his work in Holland, and then secretly sends the manuscript there.
The Conversations were published in Leiden in July 1638, and the book got to Archetri almost a year later — in June 1639.
By that time, Galileo had become blind (years of hard work, age and the fact that the scientist often looked at the Sun without good light filters affected) he could only feel his offspring with his hands.
Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642.
Only in November 1979, Pope John Paul II officially recognized that the Inquisition made a mistake in 1633, forcing the scientist to renounce the Copernican theory by force.
This was the first and only case in the history of the Catholic Church of a public recognition of the injustice of the condemnation of a heretic, committed 337 years after his death.
(Samin D. K. 100 great scientists. - Moscow: Veche, 2000) More about Galileo Galilei: Galileo (Calileo Galilei).
- The family of Galileo belonged to the Florentine nobles; the original surname of his ancestors was Bonajuti, but one of them, Galileo Bonajuti, a doctor, having reached the title of gonfaloniere of Justice of the Florentine Republic, became called Galileo dei Galilei and this surname passed to his descendants.
Vincenzo, Galileo's father, a resident of Florence, in 1564 temporarily lived in Pisa with his wife, and here they had a son, who glorified his name with the discovery of the laws of motion of falling bodies and thereby laid the first foundation of that part of mechanics called dynamics.
Vincenzo himself was very well versed in literature and music theory; he carefully engaged in the upbringing and education of his eldest son.
At the age of 16, Galileo Galilei was sent to the University of Pisa to take a philosophy course, so that he would then study medicine.
At that time, the teaching of the peripatetics, based on the philosophy of Aristotle, distorted by scribes and interpreters, prevailed in science.
The method of peripatetics for explaining the phenomena of nature was as follows.
First of all, they proceeded from hypotheses or propositions directly drawn from the writings of Aristotle and from them, by means of syllogisms, they deduced conclusions about how certain natural phenomena should occur; they did not resort to verifying these conclusions by experience at all.
Following this path, the peripatetics were, for example, convinced and taught others that a body weighing ten times more than another body falls ten times faster.
One must think that Galileo Galilei was not satisfied with such a philosophy; from an early age, he showed a desire to
