Galileo Galilei - Italian scientist, philologist, mechanic, critic, poet, astronomer and physicist. He had a significant impact on the development of science of his time. Experience considered the basis of knowledge and fiercely fought against scholastic teachings. Now everyone knows his achievements: Galileo invented a hydrostatic balance, a thermoscope and improved a telescope. The scientist is the founder of experimental physics. In this article we will tell you about the life and inventions of Galileo. So let's get started.
Childhood and youth
Galileo Galileo, a brief biography of which will be presented below, was born in Pisa (Italy) in 1564. His father, who worked as a musician and mathematician, chose the profession of a physician for his son. After the boy graduated from the monastery school, he assigned him to the University of Pisa at the Faculty of Medicine. But seventeen-year-old Galileo was not interested. He left the university and went to Florence, where he began to study the works of Archimedes and Euclid. Galileo's father, yielding to the requests of his son, transferred him to the Faculty of Philosophy.
In his childhood, Galileo liked to design mechanical toys and operating models of ships, mills, cars. The student Galileo Viviani, who later wrote a biography of the scientist, mentioned that in his youth Galileo was very observant. It was thanks to this quality that he managed to make an important discovery: when he saw the swing of a chandelier in the Cathedral of Pisa, the young man came up with the law of isochronism of pendulum oscillations (independence of the deviation from the oscillation period). Many researchers disagree with Viviani and believe that this discovery does not belong to Galileo. But it is reliably known that Galileo repeatedly tested this law empirically. He also used it to determine the length of time. This experiment was enthusiastically accepted by doctors.
Hydrostatic Balance Galileo
In 1586, a young scientist published the first scientific work of a practical nature. Galileo designed special hydrostatic scales and described them in detail in his work. We can say that this determined his future fate as a scientist.
Hydrostatic scales allow weighing to determine the density of precious stones and metals. The method itself was discovered by Archimedes. Galileo's work entitled "Small Scales" came to the Florentine mathematician Guido del Monte. The scientist immediately recognized in Galileo a talented mechanic and wished to get to know him.
It was on the recommendation of del Monte in 1589 that Galileo got a professor's place at his university, which he could not finish due to financial difficulties. True, they took him to a minimum salary, but the scientist was still happy, because the hydrostatic scales of Galileo were glorified in the scientific world. He was especially famous among Italian mathematicians.
The treatise "On the Movement"
Starting to teach mathematics and philosophy at the university, Galileo faced a difficult choice. On the one hand - the indestructible dogma of the views of Aristotle, on the other - their own thoughts, reinforced by experience. According to Aristotle, the rate of fall of a body is proportional to its weight. Galileo refuted this assertion when, with numerous witnesses, he dropped balls of the same size, but with different weights, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Aristotle taught that different bodies have different “lightness properties”, so some of them fall much faster than others. For the body to move, it needs an air impulse, therefore, the movement of the body indicates the absence of emptiness. Galileo's experiments said otherwise.
In 1590, the researcher wrote a treatise on motion. In it, he sharply criticized the views of the followers of Aristotle (peripatetics). This caused an disapproving attitude towards the scientist on the part of representatives of the official scholastic science. In addition, the received salary did not suit Galileo. He was very financially constrained. The aforementioned del Monte helped him by recommending Galileo to the University of Padua.
Padua period
Since 1592, the most fruitful period in the life of the researcher began. We have already talked about the hydrostatic scales of Galileo, which became his first discovery. So, over the years of teaching at the University of Padua, the scientist made two more. Galileo invented a thermoscope to study thermal phenomena and improved his spyglass, making it a telescope.
In fact, the thermoscope was a prototype of the thermometer. In order to invent it, Galileo had to radically rethink the principles of cold and heat existing at that time.
The invention of the spyglass in Venice was already recognized in 1609. Interested in this discovery, Galileo improved the device and adapted it to observe the starry sky. At the beginning of 1610, this helped the researcher to find three satellites of the planet Jupiter. Watching the planet at different times, Galileo was able to understand that it was the satellites that revolved around it, and not vice versa. This was confirmed by the model of the Kepler system, a supporter of which was a scientist.
In addition, Galileo discovered the principle of relativity in dynamics. He formed the basis of the current theory of relativity. Galileo found Aristotle's misconceptions about the movement erroneous. Empirically, the scientist found out that motion (mechanical processes) is relative. That is, it is impossible to talk about movement without figuring out with respect to which “reference body” it is occurring. The laws of motion themselves are irrelevant. Therefore, having closed in the cabin of the ship, it is impossible to experimentally establish whether it moves rectilinearly and evenly or rests in place.
Astronomical discoveries
Thanks to an improved telescope, the scientist has new achievements. Galileo Galilei discovered the phases of Venus and was convinced of the existence of a huge number of stars of the Milky Way. Observing the movement of sunspots, the researcher realized that this process is due to the rotation of the sun. Studying the surface of the moon, Galileo discovered craters and mountains. With all this, he undermined confidence in the cosmogonic dogma of the invariance of the universe, having made a revolutionary revolution in astronomy. Galileo described all his observations in the work “Star Herald”, which was published in 1610. He dedicated this work to the Tuscan Duke named Cosimo de Medici.
Return to Florence
Soon the duke invited Galileo to work in Florence. The scientist took the position of the court philosopher and the first mathematician of the university, who was not required to give lectures. By that time, the work of Galileo became known throughout Italy. They were admired by some; they were fiercely hated by others. True, hostility did not appear at first. In 1611, the astronomer was even invited to Rome, where he was enthusiastically greeted by the first persons of the city and church. Galileo still had no idea about the secret surveillance he had established. The offensive of the adversaries intensified in 1613, when the Inquisition raised the question of the incompatibility of the Holy Scriptures with Galileo's discoveries. The researcher gave a detailed answer to this accusation, in which he made an attempt to clearly distinguish between science and the church. In 1616, he went to Rome to defend his teachings.
First process
The circumstances were very successful. The reason for this was Galileo's brilliant oratory ability. In addition, the Duke of Tuscany helped the scientist by writing letters of recommendation for the Inquisition . The charges against Galileo were found to be unfounded. However, now a rather difficult task has arisen before the scientist: the legalization of his scientific views.
The Copernican system could not be openly defended, but the form of a dialogue-dispute was not prohibited. Therefore, Galileo wrote the manuscript “Dialogue on the ebb and flow,” in which three interlocutors discussed the two main systems of the world - Copernicus and Ptolemy. In 1630 he went to Rome with this book. It took the scientist two years to fight censorship in order to get permission to publish the manuscript. As a result, she left in Florence in August 1632.
Second process
The Inquisition immediately responded to the release of a book read throughout Europe. At the end of 1632, Galileo was ordered to come to Rome. The scientist asked for a postponement due to his illness and advanced age. But his request was ignored. At the beginning of 1633 he was taken to Rome on a stretcher. For a month he lived with the Tuscan envoy, and then Galileo was expelled to the Inquisition prison. Then there were threats of torture, demands for renunciation, interrogations, and the most terrible thing for a researcher is the destruction of his labors. It was not possible to justify their “Dialogues” before the judges Galileo. After the trial, the scientist was brought to the monastery of St. Minerva, forced to sign the renunciation and publicly repent, kneeling.
Last years
In 1637, Galileo Galileo, whose brief biography was covered in this article, lost his sight. But before that, the scientist managed to finish the work devoted to his achievements in the field of mechanics. The work was called "Mathematical Evidence and Conversations." Unlike the Dialogues, this book sets out as if the argument with Aristotle's supporters is no longer relevant and the approval of new scientific views is necessary. Thanks to the efforts of the friends of Galileo, the book was published during the life of the researcher. He was incredibly happy about it.
Galileo died at the beginning of 1642 at Villa Arcetri. In 1732, the ashes of the scientist were sent to Florence and buried next to Michelangelo.
This is the whole biography. Galileo Galilei forever inscribed his name in the history of science. Finally, we give a few facts about this researcher.
Interesting facts about Galileo Galilei
- In 1992, the pope described the scientist as a brilliant physicist and expressed his regret about the verdict he was given in the past. This was the first public recognition of the Vatican regarding the rotation of the Earth around the Sun.
- Galileo hydrostatic scales are among the five most ingenious inventions that are used in our time.
- The phrase "And yet she spins!" the researcher never spoke. This myth was invented by an Italian journalist.