Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and natural philosopher. He created a superior telescope with which he made new observations of the night sky, notably that the surface of the Moon has mountains, that Jupiter has four satellite moons, and that the sunspots of the Sun, under careful observation, reveal that it is a moving sphere.
More about: Galileo GalileiDefinition
Timeline
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1564 - 1641Life of the scientist Galileo Galilei.
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15 Feb 1564Galileo Galilei is born in Pisa, Italy.
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1581Galileo studies medicine at the University of Pisa.
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1589Galileo is appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa.
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1592Galileo is appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Padua.
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1608Galileo Galilei develops a powerful new telescope.
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1610Galileo publishes his Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger).
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1610Galileo is appointed the duke of Tuscany’s official Mathematician and Natural Philosopher.
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13 Jan 1610Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, the fourth moon of Jupiter.
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1612Galileo’s Discourse on Floating Bodies is published.
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1613Galileo's Letters on Sunspots is published.
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Feb 1616Galileo is admonished by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine for his pro-Copernicus writings.
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1620Four moons of Jupiter are first observed by Galileo Galilei.
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1623Galileo's The Assayer is published.
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22 Feb 1632*Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems* by Galileo Galilei is published in Florence, Italy, comparing the Copernican heliocentric model with the Ptolemaic geocentric model and favoring Copernicus' claim that the earth revolves around the sun. The book was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books and resulted in Galileo's trial for heresy in Rome in 1633.
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1633Galileo is tried and found guilty of heresy fro his pro-Copernicus writings.
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13 Feb 1633Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial on charges of heresy for advocating the Copernican theory that the Earth revolves around the sun.
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22 Jun 1633The Recantation of Galileo (the Galileo Affair) occurs in Rome when Galileo Galilei is forced to recant his doctrine that the Earth orbits the sun and proclaims his "right belief" that the earth is the center of the universe. Afterwards he was sentenced to house arrest for life.
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1638Galileo's Discourse on Two New Sciences is published.
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8 Jan 1642Galileo dies at his home on Tuscany.
