The Life of Galileo Galilei

Galileo was born on 15th February 1564 in Pisa. He was the eledest son of Vincenzo Galilei, a musician.

The family moved to Florence, in the early 1570s. As a middle teen Galileo attended a monastery school at Vallombrase. Then he went to study the University of Pisa, where he was to study medicine, in 1581.

However he became interested in maths and decided to make philosophy and mathematics subjects his profession, much to his fathers protest. He then prepared himself to teach Aristotlian philosophy and maths. In 1585 Galilleo left the university without his degree and for many years he gave private lessons in maths subjects in Siena and Florence.

In 1584 he got the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa. There he demonstrated that the Aristotelian theory of gravity was wrong. His attacks on Aristotle made him unpopular with his colleagues and his contract was not renewed. He then got the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Padua, where he taught for eight years.

What changed his life was learning that an instrument was being made in the Netherlands that allowed far away objects to appear near. Through trial and error he found the secret to the invention and made his own. He showed this to the Venetian Senate and was rewarded with doubling of his salary, which made him one of the Most paid professors at the university.

He made many discoveries with his telescope and started following the Copernican belief. The catholic church did not like his new idea so stopped from teaching and holding his belief. They sentenced him to home imprisonment for the rest of his life.