On the life of Galileo
Galileo Galilei, who was the son of a famous music theorist, was born around Pisa, Italy, on February 15, 1564. As a child, his education was in charge of a group of monks in Vallombrosa and culminated this stage, he studied medicine at the University in Pisa, in the year 1581. This is where Galileo realized that his true passion was science, especially philosophy and mathematics, which is why he ended his university career in 1585, abandoning medicine without have obtained a title.
Despite this, Galileo conducted private tutoring until he began his career as a professor of mathematics in 1589, at 25 years of age. There is a legend that points out that it was in this period that Galileo demonstrated to his students that Aristotle was wrong in his theory regarding the fall of bodies, a theory in which he pointed out that the speed of falling objects was related with the weight of them, throwing several objects from the university tower and recording the different types of movements: the uniform rectilinear movement, the periodic movement and the uniformly accelerated rectilinear movement.
Contradicting Aristotle was considered practically a sacrilege by then, so that, by 1592, he was no longer summoned to work at the university. However, that same year he was admitted as a professor at the University of Padua, a position he covered for almost 20 more years.
The first inventions of Galileo Galilei
In all respects, Galileo grew a lot in Padua, residence in which he invented, among other things, a kind of calculator called "the military geometric compass", which could be used to solve mathematical problems of considerable complexity and in a certain way , could well be considered one of the first ancestors of our calculators. During the same period he began to study physics, discovering and grounding several new laws.
On the other hand, Galileo also studied the particular movement of pendulums, being who discovers and develops the so-called pendulum principle. Curiously, until now he showed no interest in the field of astronomy, although he was a confessed believer in the universal model of Copernicus.
After learning that in Holland a complex device had been invented designed to see distant objects up close (especially for those in the heavens), known as the spyglass, Galileo Galilei built his first telescope, which had a magnification factor of 20. With this new tool, he was able to make amazing discoveries, such as the craters and mountains of the Moon, that the Milky Way was composed of stars and the four largest moons of Jupiter, among others, which by then They denoted his deep interest in astronomy. After publishing his discoveries in 1610, he was offered a position as a mathematician at the court of Florence, which allowed him to carry out numerous investigations and publications, since he no longer had to hold his teaching position and have more free time.
Threats and censorship
By then, many scientists, intellectual and especially ecclesiastical sectors were discussing Galileo's novel discoveries and theories. They were his significant advances in the heliocentric theory as well as Galileo's way of working, based on observation, hypothesis, experimentation and demonstration (scientific method), which confronted the word of God, authority and submission to which he submitted the ecclesiastical order, which brought him multitudes of enemies. Unfortunately, enemies with a lot of power.
In the year 1614, a Florentine priest denounced Galileo and his followers for their work. In response, Galileo wrote an open letter in which he made it clear that when discussing purely scientific issues, the Bible was an irrelevant text. Small gills, of course, but it had its consequences.
Two years later, virtually all the publications of his predecessor Nicolaus Copernicus were censored by the church and immediately after, Galileo is warned that he can no longer defend the idea that the Earth is moving. Galileo had no choice but to accept and continued his work to determine lengths at sea, based on the findings he had been able to observe thanks to his telescope. In 1630, the censors of the church allowed Galileo to publish a book that discussed the theories of the conformation of the universe, although these censors changed the original title.
The judgment of Galileo Galilei, the heretic
Although Galileo had obtained permission to publish his book, the Inquisition summoned him to Rome to attend a trial for grave suspicions of heresy. The Inquisition named the prohibition of 1616 in which he could not discuss the theories of Copernicus, although Cardinal Bellarmine had signed a certificate in which he verified that Galileo no longer had any restrictions.
In 1633, Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment, however, this sentence could be modified and instead of being imprisoned, he was locked up in his own home. In any case, the fact is that Galileo Galilei lost his freedom and was sentenced to life imprisonment with house arrest, spending the rest of his days locked up in his house, far from the scientific environment. The other part of the ruling, equally unjust and absurd, ordered to burn all copies of some of his books and the sentence against him should be read publicly in all universities.
The death of Galileo
His last book was published in the year 1638, in which he discussed and improved his early studies in the movement and the principles of physics. This book began a slow path that would then follow none other than Isaac Newton. Galileo lost his sight before his last book was published, perishing in Arcetri on January 8, 1642. Almost 100 years later, a mausoleum is erected in his honor, ironically, in the church of the Holy Cross in Florence.