Period 5
Galileo Galilei Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. His father was a musician. He played the lute and was a music theorist. His mother had no occupation. Galileo was the first of six children. He was born into a family of nobility. His family was not rich though. When Galileo turned 17 he enrolled as a medical student in the University of Pisa. His father persuaded him to become a doctor but he changed his father’s mind and turned to math. Galileo was tutored by Ricci, the Tuscan court mathematician. Galileo turned out to be an extremely talented mathematician. In his early twenties he wrote tracks on centers of gravity of shapes based on the work of Archimedes. When Galileo turned 25, he was elected to the Chair of Mathematics at Pisa. From age 28 to 46 he stayed in a better position at Padua, in the Venetian Republic. Galileo provided observations that proved Copernicus’ hypothesis correct. He also gave a correct explanation for how objects moved on the surface of the earth and gravity. Galileo did not invent the telescope. He was the first person to use the telescope to study space. The telescope he used was like a cheap toy. Galileo observed the sun through his telescope and noticed little dark patches that we know of as sunspots. He also noticed that the sunspots moved so he came up with a theory that the sun rotated on an axis. With this theory he believed that the earth may rotate on an axis also. Another thing Galileo observed was 4 points of light that revolved around Jupiter. These 4 points of light turned out to be 4 of the brightest moons of Jupiter. These 4 moons are sometimes called the Galilean moons. Galileo also used his telescope to show Venus could go through phases kind of like our moon. This observation provided evidence that was consistent with the Copernican system. The Copernican system put the sun in the middle with Venus