Galileos discoveries for kids
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Galileo Galilei facts for kids
Galileo Galilei ( 15 February – 8 January ) was an Italianphysicist, astronomer, and instrument maker. Galileo was originally going to be a doctor but became a tutor was a professor of mathematics and natural science in Padua and Pisa. People most remembered him today for his conflict with the Catholic Church of his day, which led to his trial for heresy bygd the Inquisition.
Name
Galileo was named after an ancestor, Galileo Bonaiuti, a physician, university teacher and politician who lived in Florence from to At that time in the late 14th century, the family's surname shifted from Bonaiuti (or Buonaiuti) to Galilei. Galileo Bonaiuti was buried in the same church, the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, where about years later his more famous descendant Galileo Galilei was also buried. When Galileo Galilei was eight, his family moved to Florence, but he was left with Jacopo Borghini for two years. He then was educated in the Camaldolese Monastery
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Galileo Galilei
Scientist Galileo Galilei was born in and became famous for his work on mathematics and astronomy. He developed the telescope to enable close observation of the night sky and was famously imprisoned for his (correct) theory that the sun was at the centre of the universe.
Galilei was also interested in mechanics and motion and carried out many successful experiments to investigate his ideas.
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Top 10 facts
- Galileo originally began studying medicine, but switched to mathematics.
- Galileo’s dad, Vincenzo, was a famous musician and composer.
- Galileo played the lute to a very high standard – his dad taught him!
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What did Galileo discover?
Galileo pioneered the use of the telescope for observing the night sky. His discoveries undermined traditional ideas about a perfect and unchanging cosmos with the Earth at its centre.
Who was Galileo Galilei?
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on 15 February (Julian calendar; 26 February by our modern day Gregorian calendar), the first of six children.
Prior to Galileo's conflict with the Church, the majority of educated people in the Christian world subscribed either to the Aristotelian geocentric view that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth, or the Tychonic system that blended geocentrism with heliocentrism.
His championship of the Copernican (Sun-centred) planetary system brought him into serious conflict with the Church, which forced him to make a public recantation and put him under restriction in later life.
What is Galileo most famous for?
Galileo, though not the first inv