Contributions Of Galileo Galilei To Modern Astronomy Religion Essay

Contributions Of Galileo Galilei To current Astronomy Religion seekGalileos Early Life and C atomic number 18erGalileo was born in Pisa, Italy. He was the oldest news of Vincenzo Galilei, a musician who made important contributions to the theory and practice of music. In the early 1570s, the family moved to Florence where they had lived for generations. In his middle teenager social classs, Galileo attended the monastery schooldays at Vallombrosa, near Florence, and then in 1581 matriculated at the University of Pisa, where he was to theatre of operations medicine but he decided to study mathematics instead.3 In 1585, Galileo left the university without having obtained a degree and for several years he gave esoteric lessons in the mathematics in Florence and Siena. During this period he designed a new form of hydrostatic balance for weighing small quantities.3 He also began his studies on communicate for the next ii decades. Galileo discovered almost ingenious theorems on gravity which brought him recognition among mathematicians, which resulted in him obtaining the ch gentle wind of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589. It was here where he was reported to have sh consume his students the computer error of Aristotles belief that speed of fall is proportional to weight, by dropping two objects of different weight simultaneously from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.4 His contract was non renewed in 1592, probably because he contradicted Aristotelian professors.4 The same year he was ap alludeed to the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he taught geometry, mechanics and astronomy until 1610. It was during this period that Galileo made significant discoveries in both sodding(a) fundamental science and practical applied science. It was because of these discoveries that Galileo has been called the father of modern data-based astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of science, and the Father of Modern Science.5Galileo s Work and Contributions to Modern AstronomyAt Padua, Galileo invented a calculating compass for solving numerical problems.6 He discovered the law of falling bodies and of the parabolic path of projectiles. He also studied the motions of pendulums and investigated mechanics and the strength of materials.7 In 1595, Galileo began to support the of import theory of the universe revolving around the Sun (Heliocentric forge) rather than the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic theory of the Earth at the center field of the universe (Geocentric model). The Copernican model had supported Galileos tide theory which was based on the motions of the Earth.5In the flood of 1609, Galileo heard that a spyglass had been invented in Holland. By trial and error, he quickly figured out the secret of the invention and made his own three-powered spyglass from lenses for sale in spectacle makers shops.5 Others had done the same, but what tidy sum Galileo obscure was that he quickly figured out how to imp rove the instrument, having taught himself the art of lens grinding, and frankincense, produced increasingly powerful telescopes.galileostele.jpgA Photo of The Original Galileo Telescope8By celestial latitude 1609, Galileo had built a telescope of 20 times magnification and began spy the heavens. He discovered that the moon was not smooth, as had been thought by Aristotle and in fact, there were mountains and craters present on it making it rough and uneven.9Moon1.jpg examine Showing Craters on the Moon10In January 1610, Galileo discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter therefrom proving that not all objects orbit the Earth (which was thought by Aristotle and Ptolemy).11 These moons are flat referred to as Galilean Moons.FG11_16.jpgGalilean Moons of Jupiter12These discoveries were tremendous and Galileo described them in a small reserve called The Sidereal Messenger which he sacred to Cosimo II de Medici, the grand duke of his native Tuscany. He had also named the moons of Jupiter after the Medici family referring to them as the Sidera Medicea or Medicean Stars.3 As a reward, Galileo was appointed as mathematician and philosopher of the grand duke of Tuscany.In Florence of that same year, he observed that genus genus Venus exhibited a affluent set of phases similar to that of the moon, which proved that it must orbit the Sun and not the Earth.1 This observance was among the most important in human history, for it provided the head start conclusive experimental proof that was consistent with the Copernican system but not the Ptolemaic system. According to Nicholas Copernicus heliocentric model of the solar system, the Sun is at the centre of the solar system with the Earth being just another satellite orbiting the Sun. The orbit of Venus around the sun would allow all the phases of Venus to be visible from the Earth. On the other hand, Claudius Ptolemys geocentric model, with Earth at the centre and Venus orbiting Earth, only the crescent and ne w moon phases of Venus would be observed.venus_orbit.pngPtolemaic View versus Copernican View of Venus11Galileos seeable observations of the crescent, hunchbacked and full phases of Venus provided empirical and conclusive evidence that the Ptolemaics model was incorrect. Galileo was now confirmed in his belief, that the Sun is the centre of the universe and that the Earth is a planet, as Copernicus had previously argued. Galileos conversion to Copernicanism was a key turning point in the scientific revolution.In 1613, Galileo also observed the Sun done his telescope and saw that there were dark patches present on it, (now referred to as sunspots,) which were considered to be im complete(a)ions at the time.13sunspots.gifSunspots on the Sun as Observed by Galileo through with(predicate) his Telescope14This was contrary to what Aristotle had proposed in that, the heavenly spheres and bodies were made from a divine, unchanging, perfect substance which he said was the fifth element c alled aether.15 (The four elements were earth, fire, air and water.) Aristotle held that this perfect substance, had by nature to execute perfect (uniform, circular) motion.16 Galileo observed the motion of these sunspots which indicated that the Sun was rotating on an axis which made it possible that the Earth world power be rotating on an axis as well, as required by the Copernican model. Thus, if the heavens were in fact not perfect, then the approximation of elliptical orbits (according to Kepler) was not so objectionable.11 These new facts were both unknown to Aristotle and Ptolemy.The Greeks jilted the Heliocentric model partly because they could not detect stellar parallax, which was the patent shifts in stellar positions when observed from two separate points over the pedigree of the year. Galileo observed with his telescope that the Milky Way resolved into countless single stars, which helped him argue that the stars were far more many and more distant than the Greek s had believed. With this in mind, Galileo was able to conclude that stars were so far away that stellar parallax were undetectable, thus further supporting the Heliocentric model.11In 1616, Galileo also discovered the planet Saturn which had seen as a three-body system, which was later found out to be the sound of Saturn but, he was unable to see this because his telescope was not powerful enough, viewing them as extensions on either side of the planet.DSC08891-Saturn.jpgPic26-ears.jpgGalileos Sketch of Saturn17 View of Saturn through Galileos Telescope in 161617Galileo also conducted experiments using rolling balls to demonstrate that a moving object remains in motion unless a cart acts to stop it (now codified as atomic number 7s First Law of Motion). This explained why objects such as birds, falling stones and clouds, which share Earths motion in space, should stay with Earth rather than fall behind as Aristotle had argued.11Thus, it was Galileo who had laid the final grou nd in modern astronomy (originally started by Copernicus and continued with Brahe and Kepler) which was used to land the views of Aristotle and Ptolemaic model. It was then the work of Issac Newton who put all the pieces unneurotic and demonstrated that the laws that governed the heavens were the same laws that governed motion on Earth.Galileos Writings and Publications In AstronomyMany philosophy professors had scorned Galileos discoveries because they had strongly believed in Aristotles views of utterly spherical bodies existing in the heavens. In 1610, Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry/Sidereal Messenger) was the first scientific paper to be publish based on Galileos telescopic observations which reported nigh the Galilean Moons, the craters and mountains on the Moons surface, the Milky Way and the numerous stars which it contains and the airs of planets and fixed stars.18 In 1613 he published work on the sunspots he discovered called the Letters on Sunspots. This publication al so included the full set of phases of Venus as well as the puzzling appearance of the three-body system of Saturn.In 1614 a Florentine priest denounced Galileo from the pulpit because a Pisan professor (in Galileos absence) told the Medici that belief in a moving earth was unorthodox. Galileo wrote a letter on the irrelevance of biblical passages in scientific arguments, stating that the contain of account should be adapted to increased knowledge and that no scientific individual should be made a critique of the Roman Catholic faith.3 In early 1616, Copernican books were subjected to censorship by law and that Galileo must no longer hold or defend the concept that the earth moves. Galileo remained obtuse on the subject for some years until 1623 when he published The Assayer. This book set forth his views on the mathematical formulation of scientific think as well as experiments he conducted in determining longitudes at sea by using his predictions of Jupiters satellites. This b ook was successful and got support among the high levels of Christian Churches. In 1624, Galileo went to Rome where he had a few interviews with the pontiff (Urban VIII at that time), whom he told about his theory on tides that he developed in 1616. Galileo put forward proof of the annual and diurnal motions of the Earth, whereby he was granted the permission to write a book about the theories of the universe, but was warned to treat Copernican theory only hypothetically.18 In 1630, the book titled the Dialogue on the deuce Chief World Systems was allowed to score by the Roman Catholic sensors at Rome, but they altered the title, excluding the address Ptolemaic and Copernican (at the end of the above title). The book was finally published at Florence in 1632. However, in 1633 Galileo was summoned by the Roman Inquisition to place upright trial for suspicion of heresy, on the grounds that he had been personally staged in 1616 not to discuss Copernicanism either orally or in wri ting and was sentenced to life imprisonment which was commuted to house arrest.18 The Dialogue was ordered to be burned.galilei_image01.jpgPainting depicts Galileo standing trial in Rome for his belief in Copernicanism19In 1638 at Leiden, Galileos final book was published entitled the Discourses Concerning Two New Sciences, which reviewed and refined his earlier studies of motion and mechanics. This book led Newton to the law of gravitation that linked Keplers laws with Galileos physics.ConclusionGalileo became blind before his stopping point book was published. He died at his home in Arcetri, near Florence on January 8th 1642. It was not until 1979 an investigation into Galileos condemnation called for a reversal by pontiff John Paul II and in October 1992, a grandiloquent commission acknowledged the Churchs error. Fifty years after his death the urban center of Florence erected a monument in Galileos honour in Santa Croce.800px-Tomb_of_Galileo_Galilei.jpgTomb of Galileo in San ta Croce20In December 2008, during the events to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileos telescopic observations, Pope Benedict XVI praised his contributions to astronomy. Galileo still remains one of the most important scientists of his time and even though he had a difficult liveliness and personally suffered because of his ideas, he is greatly appreciated today.