Galileo (Astronomy And Physics)

Date and place of birth: February 15, 1564 Italy


Life:Galileo was born in Pisa, the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei a famous lutenist and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati. He was educated in the Camaldolese Monastery at Vallombrosa. Although he seriously considered the priesthood as a young man, he enrolled for a medical degree. He did not complete this degree, but instead studied mathematics.

Discoveries:
Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure science (for example, kinematics of motion, and astronomy) and applied science (for example, strength of materials, improvement of the telescope). In 1610 Galileo published an account of his telescopic observations of the moons of Jupiter, using this observation to argue in favor of the sun-centered, Copernican theory of the universe against the dominant earth-centered Ptolemaic and Aristotelian theories.


Date of death:8 January 1642