Galileo Galilei

• Born 1564 in Pisa, Italy• Inventor & scientist• Discovered the

pendulum (later used in clocks)

• Father of Science

Italy

Pisa

Galileo’s Telescope

• Not the first to invent the telescope (1608)

• Improved the telescope so that his magnified 20x’s more

• First to use the telescope to study the skies

Galileo’s Telescope

• In 1610, writings described the celestial sights he saw with his new telescope

• Observations included:

Spots on the SunCraters on the moonMilky Way was

composed of starsPhases of VenusMoons of Jupiter

Galileo’s Ideas

• Observed the sun same time every day and charted sun spots

• Evidence that proved the Earth revolves around the Sun and was not the center of the universe

• Ideas thought to go against the teachings of the Bible

Catholic Church

• Galileo found guilty of breaching the Inquisition (church court) in 1616 and sentenced to lifelong imprisonment

• Allowed house arrest rather than imprisonment until his death in 1642.

Galileo Mission

• 1989, NASA launched spacecraft “Galileo” to study Jupiter.

• Galileo arrived at Jupiter in December 1995.

• In 1992, the Vatican formally and publicly cleared Galileo of any wrongdoing.