Galileo Galilei

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Galileo Galilei
Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Giusto Sustermans
Born	15 February 1564(1564-02-15)[1] Pisa,[1] Duchy of Florence, Italy
Died	8 January 1642(1642-01-08) (aged 77)[1] Arcetri,[1] Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy
Residence	Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy
Nationality	Italian (Tuscan)
Fields	Astronomy, physics and mathematics
Institutions	University of Pisa University of Padua
Alma mater	University of Pisa
Academic advisors	Ostilio Ricci[2]
Notable students	Benedetto Castelli Mario Guiducci Vincenzio Viviani[3]
Known for	Kinematics Dynamics Telescopic observational astronomy Heliocentrism
Signature
Notes His father was the musician Vincenzo Galilei. Galileo Galilei's mistress Marina Gamba (1570 – August 21, 1612?) bore him two daughters (Maria Celeste (Virginia, 1600–1634) and Livia (1601–1659), both of whom became nuns) and a son Vincenzo (1606–1649), a lutenist. Gamba later married Giovanni Bartoluzzi.

Galileo Galilei (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaliˈlɛːo ɡaliˈlɛi]; 15 February 1564^[4] – 8 January 1642),^[1][5] commonly known as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy",^[6] the "father of modern physics",^[7] the "father of science",^[7] and "the Father of Modern Science".^[8] Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."^[9]
The motion of uniformly accelerated objects, taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses, was studied by Galileo as the subject of kinematics. His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments.
Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, when a large majority of philosophers and astronomers still subscribed to the geocentric view that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. After 1610, when he began publicly supporting the heliocentric view, which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe, he met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics, 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",^[10] and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it—which he promised to do. When he later defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.^[11][12]