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Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) | A Particle in Motion...Galileo's Life | The Parabolic Path...A Modern View
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A Particle in Motion...Galileo's Life
Vincent W. Lau

Galileo Galilei began his life in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. Born into a family with noble roots, Galileo's father believed that medicine would be the best profession for his son. Galileo's genius was not to be subdued, though. Soon after enrolling into the University of Pisa to study medicine, Galileo dropped out to pursue his interests in mathematics and mechanics. In 1588, he wrote a treatise on the center of gravity for solids and obtained a lecture-ship at the University of Pisa. By 1592, Galileo was offered a chair in mathematics at the University of Padua, where he stayed for eighteen years.

Galileo is best remembered as an astronomer. He had improved on the first versions of the telescope and was the first to observe the seas of the moon and the satellites of Jupiter. Galileo saw Jupiter as a miniature solar system and it convinced him that the Copernican view of the universe was correct. Copernicus theorized that the earth was not the center of the universe, but was just one of many planets that orbited the sun. Prior to his observations, Galileo was already convinced that the old Ptolemaic (earth-centered) view of the universe was wrong. In a letter that he wrote to Kepler in 1597, Galileo confessed that he had refrained from becoming a public advocate of the Copernican view for fear of ridicule. The new discoveries Galileo had made with his telescope was enough for him to discard his reservations, and his battles with the church over the subject became legendary in the scientific community.

However, Galileo's true legacy lives on in physics. Galileo made truly remarkable discoveries in mechanics and is considered to be the first modern scientist. In his time, the ``proper'' way of studying mechanics was through the intense study of the teachings of past scientists. Galileo broke from tradition and went straight to nature. He was one of the first scientists to use experimentation as a powerful tool of investigation. He found that the physics of his time were seriously erred, and set out to correct them. In fact, Galileo is considered to be the father of modern physics. His findings are still alive today, proof of which can be found in any modern physics book.