Galileo Galilei

Presented By: LEKSHMI K L S

Early Years
Born 15 Feb. 1564 in Pisa
Educated in Camaldolese Monastery
Father wanted him to be a medical doctor
Interested in mathematics
Discoveries
Observed swinging lamps in Cathedral
of Pisa and found period to be
independent of the amplitude idea for
a pendulum clock
Used inclined planes to prove that
bodies do not fall with velocities
proportionate to their weight but
proportionate to time.
Disproved Aristotles view when he observed a supernova
and showed that the new star could not be close to the
earth by parallax arguments
Found that projectiles follow a parabolic path
Overview:
Born in February 15
th
1564 - January 8 1642
An Italian Physicist, astronomer, astrologer, and
philosopher associated with the scientific revolution.
His achievements include the first systematic studies of
uniformly accelerated motion, improvements to the
telescope, a variety of astronomical observations, and
support for Copernicanism.
Galileo's experiment-based work is a significant break
from the abstract approach of Aristotle.
Galileo is often referred to as the "father of modern
astronomy," as the "father of modern physics", and as
the "father of science".
Galileos Telescope
Improved Dutch spyglass to
achieve 8-9X magnification
Observed mountains on the
moon, the Milky Way
composed of tiny stars, and
sunspots
Accurately measured the period for four of Jupiters
moons
Saw that Venus showed phases like the moon did
and must therefore orbit the Sun rather than the
Earth
Copernican Theory
I hold that the Sun is located at the centre of the revolutions
of the heavenly orbs and does not change place, and that
the Earth rotates on itself and moves around it. Moreover ...
I confirm this view not only by refuting Ptolemy's and
Aristotle's arguments, but also by producing many for the
other side, especially some pertaining to physical effects
whose causes perhaps cannot be determined in any other
way, and other astronomical discoveries; these discoveries
clearly confute the Ptolemaic system, and they agree
admirably with this other position and confirm it.
In February 1632 Galileo published Dialogue Concerning
the Two Chief Systems of the World - Ptolemaic and
Copernican . -- Conclusion was right, but the proof was
wrong
Biographical Sketch
Galileo was born in Pisa, in the
Tuscany region of Italy on Feb. 15
th
,
1564.
As a young man he seriously
considered the priesthood, at his
fathers urging he enrolled for a
medical degree, but instead studied
mathematics. In 1589 was being
appointed to the chair of mathematcs.
In 1592 he moved to the university of
Padua, teaching Geometry, Mehanics,
and Astronomy until 1610.
During this period Galileo made
significant discoveries in both pure
science (kinematics of motion, and
astronomy) and applied science
(strength of materials, improvement of
the telescope).
Biographical Sketch
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. The next
year Galileo visited Rome in order to
demonstrate his telescope to the influential
philosophers and mathematicians of the Jesuit
Collegio Romano, and to let them see with their
own eyes the reality of the four moons of
Jupiter.
In 1612, opposition arose to the Sun-centered
solar system which Galileo supported. In 1614,
from the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella, Father
Tommaso Caccini (15741648) denounced
Galileo's opinions on the motion of the Earth,
judging them dangerous and close to heresy.
Galileo went to Rome to defend himself against
these accusations, but, in 1616, Cardinal
Roberto Bellarmino personally handed Galileo
an admonition enjoining him neither to
advocate nor teach Copernican astronomy.
In 1622, Galileo wrote his first book, The
Assayer (Saggiatore), which was approved and
published in 1623.
Scientific Methods
Although he tried to remain loyal to the Catholic Church, Galileo's
adherence to experimental results, and their most honest
interpretation, led to his rejection of blind allegiance to authority,
both philosophical and religious, in matters of science. In broader
terms, this helped separate science from both philosophy and
religion, a major development in human thought.
Galileo was often willing to change his views in accordance with
observation. Philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend also noted the
supposedly improper aspects of Galileo's methodology, but he
argued that Galileo's methods could be justified retroactively by their
results.
In order to perform his experiments, Galileo had to set up standards
of length and time, so that measurements made on different days
and in different laboratories could be compared in a reproducible
fashion. For measurements of particularly short intervals of time,
Galileo sang songs with whose timing he was familiar.
Astronomy
Astronomy
Based only on sketchy descriptions of the
telescope, invented in the Netherlands in 1608,
during that same year Galileo made one with
about 3x magnification, and later made others
with up to about 32x magnification. With this
improved device he could see magnified,
upright images on the earth - it was what is now
known as a terrestrial telescope, or spyglass.
He could also could use it to observe the sky;
for a time he was one of very few who could
construct telescopes good enough for that
purpose.
In the week of January 7, 1610 Galileo
discovered three of Jupiter's four largest
satellites (moons). He noted that the moons
would appear and disappear periodically, an
observation which he attributed to their
movement behind Jupiter, and concluded that
they were orbiting the planet. He made
additional observations of them in 1620. Later
astronomers overruled Galileo's naming of
these objects, changing his originally named
Medicean stars to Galilean satellites. The
demonstration that a planet had smaller planets
orbiting it was problematic for the orderly,
comprehensive picture of the geocentric model
of the universe, in which everything circled
around the Earth.
Astronomy
Galileo was one of the first Europeans to observe sunspots.
The very existence of sunspots showed another difficulty with the unchanging
perfection of the heavens as assumed in the older philosophy. And the annual
variations in their motions, presented great difficulties for both the geocentric system
and that of Tycho Brahe.
Galileo was also the first to report lunar mountains and craters, whose existence he
deduced from the patterns of light and shadow on the Moon's surface. He even
estimated the mountains' heights from these observations. This led him to the
conclusion that the Moon was "rough and uneven, and just like the surface of the
Earth itself," rather than a perfect sphere as Aristotle had claimed.
Galileo also observed the planet Neptune in 1612, but did not realize that it was a
planet and took no particular notice of it. It appears in his notebooks as one of many
unremarkable dim stars.
Galileo made at least one major scientific error, in addition to opposing Kepler's
hypothesis that the gravity of the moon is the origin of the tides. This was his view on
the origin of the comets of 1618. He argued vehemently in The Assayer that they
were an optical illusion, in opposition to the interpretation of the Jesuit Orazio Grassi
that they were real, and quite distant from the Moon. His alienation of both Scheiner
and Grazzi likely contributed to the hostile response of the Jesuit order to his
publication of "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" in 1632, and the
inquisition that followed.
Church Controversy
By 1616 the attacks on Galileo had
reached a head, and he went to Rome
to try to persuade the Church
authorities not to ban his ideas. In the
end, Cardinal Bellarmine, acting on
directives from the Inquisition,
delivered him an order not to "hold or
defend" the idea that the Earth moves
and the Sun stands still at the centre.
The decree did not prevent Galileo
from discussing heliocentrism
hypothetically. For the next several
years Galileo stayed well away from
the controversy.
He was ordered imprisoned; the
sentence was later commuted to
house arrest.
His offending Dialogue was banned;
and in an action not announced at the
trial and not enforced, publication of
any of his works was forbidden,
including any he might write in the
future.

Cool Quotes
[The universe] cannot be read until we have learnt the language and
become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written
in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and
other geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly
impossible to comprehend a single word.
Opere Il Saggiatore p. 171.
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who endowed us
with sense, reason, and intellect intended us to forgo their use.
Quoted in Des MacHale, Wisdom (London, 2002).
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something
from him.
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point
is to discover them.
Sources
[Link]
[Link]/Mathematicians/[Link]
School of Mathematics and Statistics University
of St. Andrews, Scotland
[Link]
The Galileo Project.
[Link]
dia/entry?id=18251
Yahoo Encyclopedia
THANK YOU
LEKSHMI K L S