Galileo

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. He had made many achievements throughout his career, most important he had made improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and overall support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been named many things like the “father of modern observational astronomy,” the “father of modern physics”, the “father of modern science” and so on. He lived from Feb 15^th 1564- January 8^th 1642. His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter and the observation and analysis of sunspots. He had also worked in many other areas including science and technology, inventing an improved military compass. Throughout his lifetime, there was much controversy around his championing of Copernicanism when a large majority of philosophers and astronomers still believed the thought that the Earth is at the center of the universe. After 1610 he began publicly stating and supporting the heliocentric view which had placed the Sun at the center of the universe, he met with philosophers disagreeing bitterly and two of the latter eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition early in 1615. In February 1616, although he had been cleared of any offence, the Catholic Church nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture", and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it which he had promised to do so. He later then defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which was published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition and found to be suspected of heresy. This forced him to recant and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.