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Galileo Galilei Research Paper

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Galileo Galilei was a teacher, astronomer, philosopher and physicist who is now referred to as “the Father of the Scientific Revolution.” “The scientific revolution refers to a period of time of great advancement in the sciences that challenged the traditional beliefs about mankind's place and relationship with the universe held by religious orders” (Bellis). Born in Pisa Italy on February 15, 1564 Galileo was the son of Vincenzo Galilei, musician and mathematician. He was the first of six children and began his education at the age of eight at the Camaldolese Monastery at Vallombrosa. Bringing a close connection to the Christian religion he became a lutenist. However, his father immediately removed him from the monastery and insisted that …show more content…

He later received the position of chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa where he worked for eighteen years. It was during his position that he began to research free-fall and stated that all objects would fall at the same rate of speed. A statement that contradicted previous beliefs and Galileo’s findings were disproven by the Aristotelians. During 1586 Galileo made a name for himself by publishing an essay that described his invention of hydrostatic balance, when fluid is at rest. He was then appointed the position of mathematician and philosopher by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and continued his investigation of nature. Later he established his laws of free-fall, some of which still exist today. His laws of projectiles later formulated Newton’s laws. Galileo studies created concerns from the church that led to the trials against Galileo because of his strong support of the Copernican theory. His belief was that the earth revolved around the sun, the church however, disagreed and accused him of violation. His controversial work was challenged by the church creating a tension that is a well-known as his …show more content…

Before the age of twenty he had made great observations in mechanics. He observed, a chandelier swinging and when time with his heartbeat he noticed that the swings in the chandelier were in larger or smaller arcs but whether it was swinging back or forth it took the same amount of time. This observation prompted Galileo to being his experiments, validating his theories and providing factual evidence to back his notions. During 1595 Galileo had taken a compass design invented by Niccolo Tartaglia and Guidobaldo del Monte and by 1598 he had improved it making it more accurate he had created a geometric and military compass by today’s standards. Not only this but with the use of Galileo’s flotation principles he invented a thermoscope which was later used as a basis for the modern day thermometer. Another of his experiments was an attempt to measure the speed of light. In which he and an assistant stood on two hilltops, holding a lantern with a shudder. When one opened the shutter the other would open his shutter. This took place with a distance of less than a mile and Galileo did not detect a delay in the time greater that when they were only meters apart. Although there was no conclusion to this experiment, Galileo thought that the distance between the hilltops and that perhaps the distance was too small for a worthy measurement. Galileo

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