Wikijunior:Famous Inventors/Early Inventors/Galileo
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[edit] When, Where, and to whom was he or she born?
Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany), the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati.
[edit] What was his or her childhood like?
Did You Know?
- First interesting fact.
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Galileo was born in Pisa (then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany), the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati. At the age of 8, his family moved to Florence, but he was left with Jacopo Borghini for two years.[2] He then was educated in the Camaldolese Monastery at Vallombrosa, 33 km southeast of Florence.[2] Although he seriously considered the priesthood as a young man, he enrolled for a medical degree at the University of Pisa at his father's urging. He did not complete this degree, but instead studied mathematics. In 1589, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Pisa. In 1591 his father died and he was entrusted with the care of his younger brother Michelagnolo. In 1592, he moved to the University of Padua, teaching geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610. During this period Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure science (for example, kinematics of motion, and astronomy) and applied science (for example, strength of materials, improvement of the telescope). His multiple interests included the study of astrology, which in pre-modern disciplinary practice was seen as correlated to the studies of mathematics and astronomy.[8]
[edit] Why did this person become interested in science?
Galileo Galilei pioneered the use of quantitative experiments whose results could be analyzed with mathematical precision (More typical of science at the time were the qualitative studies of William Gilbert, on magnetism and electricity). Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei, a lutenist and music theorist, had performed experiments establishing perhaps the oldest known non-linear relation in physics: for a stretched string, the pitch varies as the square root of the tension. These observations lay within the framework of the Pythagorean tradition of music, well-known to instrument makers, which included the fact that subdividing a string by a whole number produces a harmonious scale. Thus, a limited amount of mathematics had long related music and physical science, and young Galileo could see his own father's observations expand on that tradition. Galileo is perhaps the first to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. In The Assayer he wrote "Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe ... It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures; ...".[11] His mathematical analyses are a further development of a tradition employed by late scholastic natural philosophers, which Galileo learned when he studied philosophy.[12] Although he tried to remain loyal to the Catholic Church, his adherence to experimental results, and their most honest interpretation, led to a rejection of blind allegiance to authority, both philosophical and religious, in matters of science. In broader terms, this aided to separate science from both philosophy and religion; a major development in human thought.
[edit] Where did this person go to school?
Galileo Galilei pioneered the use of quantitative experiments whose results could be analyzed with mathematical precision (More typical of science at the time were the qualitative studies of William Gilbert, on magnetism and electricity). Galileo's father, Vincenzo Galilei, a lutenist and music theorist, had performed experiments establishing perhaps the oldest known non-linear relation in physics: for a stretched string, the pitch varies as the square root of the tension. These observations lay within the framework of the Pythagorean tradition of music, well-known to instrument makers, which included the fact that subdividing a string by a whole number produces a harmonious scale. Thus, a limited amount of mathematics had long related music and physical science, and young Galileo could see his own father's observations expand on that tradition. Galileo is perhaps the first to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. In The Assayer he wrote "Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe ... It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures; ...".[11] His mathematical analyses are a further development of a tradition employed by late scholastic natural philosophers, which Galileo learned when he studied philosophy.[12] Although he tried to remain loyal to the Catholic Church, his adherence to experimental results, and their most honest interpretation, led to a rejection of blind allegiance to authority, both philosophical and religious, in matters of science. In broader terms, this aided to separate science from both philosophy and religion; a major development in human thought. Galileo made a number of contributions to what is now known as technology, as distinct from pure physics, and suggested others. This is not the same distinction as made by Aristotle, who would have considered all Galileo's physics as techne or useful knowledge, as opposed to episteme, or philosophical investigation into the causes of things. Between 1595–1598, Galileo devised and improved a Geometric and Military Compass suitable for use by gunners and surveyors. This expanded on earlier instruments designed by Niccolò Tartaglia and Guidobaldo del Monte. For gunners, it offered, in addition to a new and safer way of elevating cannons accurately, a way of quickly computing the charge of gunpowder for cannonballs of different sizes and materials. As a geometric instrument, it enabled the construction of any regular polygon, computation of the area of any polygon or circular sector, and a variety of other calculations. About 1593, Galileo constructed a thermometer, using the expansion and contraction of air in a bulb to move water in an attached tube.
Template:Classical mechanics Galileo's theoretical and experimental work on the motions of bodies, along with the largely independent work of Kepler and René Descartes, was a precursor of the classical mechanics developed by Sir Isaac Newton. He was a pioneer, at least in the European tradition, in performing rigorous experiments and insisting on a mathematical description of the laws of nature.
[edit] What problem did he or she uncover that needed solving?
He solved that you can look at the stars closer.
[edit] What solutions had already been tried that did not solve the problem? Why wasn't it working?
[edit] What did this person invent that solved the problem?
The teloscope is what Galileo
[edit] How did the invention solve the problem?
it helps to see in space
[edit] How has this inventor changed people and the world?
in stead of going in space you can look in a teloscope
[edit] What happened to this inventor in the end?
