Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and mathematician of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, often called the father of modern science.
His telescopic observations—Jupiter's moons, Venus's phases, the Moon's craters—supported the Copernican view that Earth orbits the Sun.
The Catholic Church condemned him for heresy, and he spent his final years under house arrest.
Galileo's conflict with the Church became a symbol of science versus religious authority.
Science of motion
- inertiaResistance to altered motion
- pendulumSuspended swinging weight
- accelerationRate velocity changes
- free fallUnimpeded gravitational descent
kinematics · dynamics · gravity · motion · velocity · momentum · force · mass
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
- JupiterLargest solar system planet
- moonsBodies orbiting planets
- SaturnRinged gas giant
- VenusLove goddess, or planet
phases · sunspots · Milky Way · craters · lunar · celestial · stars · planets
Church tribunal against heretics
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- recantationFormal withdrawal of statement
- condemnationSevere disapproval expressed formally
- abjurationSworn repudiation of allegiance
house arrest · Copernicus · heliocentrism · Church · Vatican · geocentrism · doctrine · persecution
Attentive watching or remark
- experimentationSystematic testing of ideas
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- hypothesisTestable proposed explanation
- evidenceFacts supporting truth
measurement · quantification · mathematics · demonstration · reasoning · natural philosophy · inquiry · systematic
Violent governmental overthrow
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- modernityBeing of present times
- scienceSystematic study through observation
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
progress · innovation · paradigm shift · Copernican · transformation · influence · martyrdom · rehabilitation
mechanics
Science of motion
- inertiaResistance to altered motion
- pendulumSuspended swinging weight
- accelerationRate velocity changes
free fall · kinematics · dynamics · gravity · motion · velocity · momentum · force · mass · hydrostatics
telescope
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
Venus · phases · sunspots · Milky Way · craters · lunar · celestial · stars · planets · observation
Inquisition
Church tribunal against heretics
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- recantationFormal withdrawal of statement
- condemnationSevere disapproval expressed formally
abjuration · house arrest · Copernicus · heliocentrism · Church · Vatican · geocentrism · doctrine · persecution · censorship
observation
Attentive watching or remark
- experimentationSystematic testing of ideas
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- hypothesisTestable proposed explanation
evidence · measurement · quantification · mathematics · demonstration · reasoning · natural philosophy · inquiry · systematic · verification
revolution
Violent governmental overthrow
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- modernityBeing of present times
- scienceSystematic study through observation
rationalism · progress · innovation · paradigm shift · Copernican · transformation · influence · martyrdom · rehabilitation · vindication
- PhysicistsAlbert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, Max Planck
- Padua ScholarsNicolaus Copernicus
- 17th Century FiguresOliver Cromwell, Louis XIV, Isaac Newton, Rene Descartes, Rembrandt
- AstronomersJohannes Kepler, Nicolaus Copernicus, Edwin Hubble, Carl Sagan, Tycho Brahe
- Italian ThinkersDante Alighieri, Niccolo Machiavelli, Giordano Bruno, Thomas Aquinas, Dante
- Renaissance ScientistsCopernicus, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, Vesalius, Francis Bacon
Galileo GalileiScholasticism
Medieval academic theology method
Galileo GalileiPtolemy
Greco-Egyptian astronomer, geographer
Galileo Galileiinquisitors
Those who investigate beliefs