Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de'Galilei (February 15, 1564-January 8, 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer who was known as the father of observational astronomy, modern physics, the scientific method, and father of modern science.
He studied gravity and worked on applied science and technology and used a telescope to observe four large satellites of Jupiter, Saturn's rings, and analyzed sunspots.
Galileo attracted controversy in his lifetime and was later under house arrested by the Church, as he alienated the Pope and many other people; centuries later, he was posthumously pardoned by Pope John Paul II in 1992 as part of the late pontiff's numerous apologies
made to address concerns about atrocities attributed to the Catholic Church.
He died in 1642 at the age of 77 after suffering fever and heart palpitations and was eventually buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce.
The EU named its global satellite navigation system (equivalent to the USA's GPS, Russia's GLONASS, and China's BeiDou) Galileo in his honor, and NASA did so as well for a probe that orbited and impacted Jupiter from 1995-2003.
Writings
- Little Balance
- On Motion
- Mechanics
- The Operations of Geometrical and Military Compass
- The Starry Messenger
- Discourse on Floating Bodies
- History and Demonstration Concerning Sunspots
- Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
- Discourse on the Tides
- Discourse on the Comets
- The Assayer
- Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
- Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences
In fiction
- Galileo Galilei is an opera by Philip Glass about Galileo.
