Galileo Galilei

Introduction
Galileo Galilei (15641642) was one of the most significant figures of the
Scientific Revolution. Galileo was involved in nearly all fields of natural philosophy,
including astronomy, mathematics, and what we now term physics. He is rightly
considered one of the founders of modern physics and astronomy, and one of the main
originators of the modern scientific method. Galileos study of motion became the
foundation for Newtons laws of motion and the principles of inertia and gravity. His
astronomical studies were instrumental in supporting the heliocentric model of the solar
system first propounded by Copernicus. He should also be credited with making
experimentation the basis of scientific study, and with the use of mathematics as the
fundamental means for expressing and validating the findings of experimental
investigation. Galileos application of mathematics to experimental results has become
one of the most important aspects of modern science.
Galileo made important improvements to the telescope, which enabled him to
make great advances in astronomical observation. His observations emboldened him
to become the most important advocate of Copernicanismthe astronomical system
created by Nicolaus Copernicus (14731543)and his support ultimately ushered in
the Copernican revolution in astronomy.
Copernicus had devised a heliocentric model in which he posited that the Earth
revolved around the sun (in perfect circles). Contrary to the Ptolemaic system and
Christian cosmology, Copernicus positioned the sun as a fixed center around which
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn orbited. Furthermore, Copernicus
posited the diurnal rotation of the Earth on its own axis in addition to its annual
revolutions around the sun.
The Copernican system was at odds with the current Christian cosmology of a
geocentric universe. Yet it was mostly considered a hypothetical computing scheme, a
mere intellectual exercisethat is, until Galileo trumpeted Copernicanism and
supported it with experimental evidence. With Galileos observations and declarations,
the heliocentric model gained ascendancy. Only by refusing to look through the
telescope or suggesting that the telescope had produced illusions could scholars deny
the explanatory efficacy of heliocentrism (some actually took this tack and refuted
Galileos conclusions).
Galileos assertion and defense of Copernican heliocentrism brought him under
suspicion and eventually aroused the opposition of the Catholic Church and the Roman
Inquisition. His Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) was placed
on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1633. It remained proscribed well into the
nineteenth century. Galileo was forced to recant his heliocentric views and was placed
on house arrest for the rest of his life, although his ideas circulated widely among
natural philosophers.

Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/courses/hist201/#8.1.2

The Saylor Foundation

Saylor.org
Page 1 of 5

Galileos Personal Background

Galileo was born in Pisa, Tuscany, the oldest of six children. He came from a
noble family, but his father had very little money. His father convinced him to attend the
University of Pisa, after discouraging him from pursuing the priesthood. Because it did
not yield enough income, his father intentionally steered him away from specializing in
mathematics, and when Galileo first started college he was working toward a medical
degree, per his fathers urging. However, after happening upon a geometry lecture,
Galileo decided to pursue mathematics and natural philosophy rather than medicine.
During his time at the University of Pisa, Galileo also took an interest in the study
of fine art. He even taught courses on the techniques of perspective and chiaroscuro at
the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. However, as a result of his familys
economic hardships, Galileo was forced to leave the University of Pisa before
completing his degree. In 1589, based on his writings on motion, Galileo was offered a
professorship and was appointed the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa. By
1592, Galileo had moved to Padua, where he became a professor of mathematics and
astronomy at the university. He remained at Padua for eighteen years.
Galileos Scientific Contributions
Over the course of his career Galileo made many significant scientific discoveries
and contributions in the areas of astronomy, motion, and applied mathematics. Galileo
also contributed several innovations to the field of applied science, including
improvements to the telescope, enhancements to the compass, and the invention of the
thermoscope, a precursor of the modern thermometer.
Galileos studies in motion led to a significant breakthrough and the overthrow
the Aristotelian system of motion. Opposing the a priori assumptions of Aristotelian
metaphysics, which held that bodies had inherent properties that impelled them to move
to their natural resting places, Galileo introduced the empirical study of motion.
He also inverted the earlier process of treating mathematics in connection with
nature. Rather than trying to reconcile nature with mathematic principles posited in
advance, Galileo conducted experiments and applied measurement and mathematics to
his experimental observations. That is, he began with the observed motion of bodies
and derived the mathematical principles of motion from his observations. Using this
methodology, which accords with the modern scientific method, Galileo unveiled two
major principles of motion: the principle of uniform acceleration (the principle that bodies
of whatever weight fall at the same rate, and not at a rate proportional to their weight, as
had been held) and the principle of uniformly accelerated motion (the principle that
falling bodies increase in speed uniformly with time and distance).
Galileo also introduced the notion of the vector to the study of projectiles and
found that projectiles move in a parabolic motion. This finding had a military application.
The parabolic motion of projectiles was used to determine the best angle at which to fire
projectiles from a gun (for ultimate distance), which was found to be when the gun
barrel was at a 45-degree angle of inclination from the horizon.

Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/courses/hist201/#8.1.2

The Saylor Foundation

Saylor.org
Page 2 of 5

Using his enhanced version of Lippersheys telescope, Galileo was able to make
many astronomical discoveries, including the confirmation of the phases of Venus, the
discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his
honor), and the discovery, observation, and analysis of sunspots. He published some
of these findings in a book entitled Sidereus Nuncius, or Starry Messenger (1610).
Johannes Kepler wrote a foreword to Starry Messenger, praising Galileo and his
groundbreaking advances in astronomy. This commendation sparked the interest of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II de Medici, who appointed Galileo as his court
mathematician.
Following Starry Messenger, Galileo discovered the phases of Venus, which
resulted in a description of periodic phasing due to Venus orbiting the sun. This
corroborated Copernicuss heliocentric model. Galileo also provided some of the first
observations and analyses of sunspots. The very concept of sunspots challenged
Aristotles classification of the sun as a flawless body or object. Several European
astronomers, including German Professor Christoph Scheiner, disputed Galileos theory
of the phases of Venus, as well as his ideas about sunspots. For the first time, in a
response letter to Scheiner in 1613, Galileo openly supported his belief in Copernicuss
heliocentric system.
Galileo and the Catholic Church
Throughout his career, Galileos support and advocacy of Copernicuss
heliocentric model met with strong opposition from many astronomers and high
members of the Catholic Church. The standard and accepted worldview at the time
was a combination of the Tychonic system, developed by astronomer Tycho Brahe, and
the Ptolemaic system, which argued that the earth was the center of the universe
around which all other objects revolved (i.e., geocentrism).
Between 1613 and 1615, a letter that Galileo had written to a friend supporting
the Copernican heliocentric model circulated widely throughout powerful civic and
religious circles. Galileo personally sent a copy to the esteemed Cardinal Robert
Bellarmine, who strongly opposed Copernicanism. The theories espoused by the
heliocentric system posed a threat to the accepted Christian cosmology. The Roman
Inquisition investigated the validity of Copernicuss heliocentric model in 1615. The
Inquisition echoed the verdict at which Cardinal Bellarmine had arrived, which was that
heliocentrism was only to be interpreted as a hypothesis, and should not be understood
as accepted truth. Bellarmine had personally suggested this to Galileo, and advised
that he continue to treat it as such until explicit evidence of its validity demonstrated
otherwise. The Roman Inquisition consigned Copernicus's On the Revolutions of the
Heavenly Spheres (1543) to the Index of Forbidden Books in 1616, pending corrections.
Despite his doctrinal and personal deviations from Church teaching, Galileo was
a devout Catholic, and even sent two of his (illegitimate) daughters to the convent. He
enjoyed friendships with several clergymen, most importantly Cardinal Maffeo Barberini,
who in 1623 became Pope Urban VIII. Barberini and others in the church encouraged
Galileo to avoid publicly supporting heliocentrism. For the next several years, Galileo
continued to accept Copernicuss heliocentric model as scientific truth, but he heeded
Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/courses/hist201/#8.1.2

The Saylor Foundation

Saylor.org
Page 3 of 5

the advice of his friends and did so privately. Four years after the Inquisitions
investigation into Copernicanism, Galileo and a Jesuit priest, Orazio Grassi, had a
running disagreement over the motion of comets. This allowed Galileo to indirectly
defend the heliocentric model without explicitly referencing Copernicus.
After Pope Urban VIIIs election in 1623, Galileo published a contentious and
argumentative treatise that he had written in response to Grassis writings on comets. Il
Saggiatore (The Assayer) argued against contemporary and ancient teachings of
astronomical theory and asserted new scientific hypotheses.
In The Assayer, Galileo advanced the position that quantification was the only
means of understanding natural phenomena. Galileos treatise posed a major
challenge to Aristotelian theory, including Aristotles emphasis on the qualitative aspects
of objects. Part of Aristotles theory of objects involved the distinction between matter
and form. Matter made up the physical properties of an object or item, such as wood or
metal. Form referred to its qualitative essence or purposeful design. Galileo viewed
Aristotles understanding of form to be teleological (tending toward an ultimate
disposition or destination) so he dispensed with the concept of form altogether. This
allowed Galileo to consider the behavior of objects in terms of principles that applied to
all objects equally. Objects were seen as obeying principles of motion and matter rather
than their own intrinsic dispositions. In other words, by dispensing with Aristotelian
form, Galileo was able to advance the modern notion of natural causality into the study
of motion. The result was the final overthrow of the Aristotelian system.
Galileo and the Dialogue
A few years after publishing The Assayer, Galileo started work on what would
become his most controversial writing: Dialogo Sopra i Due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo,
or Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632). This comprised a
culmination and summary of Galileos scientific views and offered an explicit
comparison between Copernicuss heliocentric model and Ptolemys geocentric system.
In the Dialogue, Galileo aimed at exonerating the Copernican heliocentric model.
The book covered Galileos observations on many major scientific issues of his
day, in addition to astronomy. Parts of the work were meant to highlight what Galileo
considered to be valuable advancements in natural philosophy, including William
Gilberts findings on magnetism. Another section of the book, in which Galileo was
particularly invested, concerned the motion of the Earth. Galileo believed that Earths
motion could be discovered and explained through an investigation of oceanic tides.
Ultimately, however, his findings on tides and their correlation to the motion of the earth
were deemed to be mistaken.
Galileo completed the Dialogue in 1630 and was given permission by the
Inquisition to publish it two years later, in 1632. This was largely due to Galileos wellknown relationship with Pope Urban VIII.
Through the use of a narrative structure in the book, Galileo hoped to dodge the
Inquisitions ban on Copernicuss heliocentrism. The Dialogue was constructed as a
discussion between three different men over the course of four days. Two of the men
were philosophers, and the other was a layman. The layman, Sagredo, was a mediator
Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/courses/hist201/#8.1.2

The Saylor Foundation

Saylor.org
Page 4 of 5

who entered into the discussion with the two philosophers. The first philosopher,
Salviati (named after one of Galileos friends), was an advocate of Copernicus and the
heliocentric model. Salviati espoused several of Galileos theories in the book. The
second philosopher, Simplicio (a name that suggested nave simplicity), described the
tenets of geocentrism and was depicted as a staunch proponent of Aristotle and
Ptolemy. Galileo used this discussion as an opportunity to demonstrate what he viewed
as the major weaknesses of the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic systems.
After the publication of the Dialogue, Pope Urban VIII became convinced that the
character Simplicio was based on him. As a result of this perceived insult, Pope Urban
VIII banned publication of the Dialogue and demanded that the Inquisition investigate
Galileo. A year after the publication of the Dialogue, the Roman Inquisition sent for
Galileo and put him and his work on trial for breaking the ban on promoting
Copernicanism. He was charged with heresy, and ultimately disavowed his belief in
heliocentrism to avoid torture by the Inquisition. As a result, the Inquisition condemned
Galileo and placed the Dialogue on its Index of Forbidden Books. Due to Galileos
abjuration of Copernicanism, his sentence was limited to lifetime house arrest. After
being sentenced to house arrest, Galileo spent the remaining years of his life in his villa
in Arcetri, near Florence, where he continued to write about his scientific findings until
his death in 1642. Two New Sciences detailed his work as a younger man on
kinematics (a branch of classical mechanics that deals with the motion of objects) and
the strength of materials. He never again publicly defended Copernicanism.
Over one hundred years later, in 1758, the Catholic Church eventually lifted its
ban on Copernicanism and the heliocentric model. Galileos Dialogue was not removed
from the Index of Forbidden Books until 1835. It was not until 1992 that Pope John Paul
II posthumously exonerated Galileo and reversed his sentence.
Summary:

The Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was one of the most significant and influential
figures of the Scientific Revolution.
Galileo introduced empirical observation to the study of moving bodies, which led
to the overthrow of the Aristotelian system and the introduction of modern
causality to the study of motion.
Given his transformative improvements to the telescope, Galileo made
substantial discoveries and contributions to the field of astronomy.
Until his condemnation by the Church, Galileo was a strong supporter of
Copernicus and the heliocentric model.
Galileos publications in support of heliocentrism led to his condemnation by the
Roman Inquisition and the banning of his writings by the Catholic Church.
The ban on Copernicanism lasted until the mid-eighteenth century, and Galileos
Dialogue was not removed from the Index of Forbidden Books until 1835.

Saylor URL: www.saylor.org/courses/hist201/#8.1.2

The Saylor Foundation

Saylor.org
Page 5 of 5