Telescope inventor galileo galilei biography

Galileo Galilei is considered the father of modern science and made major contributions to the fields of physics, astronomy, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy. Galileo invented an improved telescope that let him observe and describe the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, sunspots and the rugged lunar surface.

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa in , the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a musician and scholar.

Galileo galilei telescope

In he entered the University of Pisa at age 16 to study medicine, but was soon sidetracked by mathematics. He left without finishing his degree. In he made his first important discovery, describing the rules that govern the motion of pendulums. Did you know? After being forced during his trial to admit that the Earth was the stationary center of the universe, Galileo allegedly muttered, "Eppur si muove!

The first direct attribution of the quote to Galileo dates to years after the trial, though it appears on a wall behind him in a Spanish painting commissioned by one of Galileo's friends. From to , Galileo was chair of mathematics at the universities of Pisa and then Padua. During those years he performed the experiments with falling bodies that made his most significant contribution to physics.

In Galileo built his first telescope, improving upon a Dutch design.