Galileo Galilei
His area was mathematics, astronomy and physics.
I think that the most important work he did was the improvement of the telescope.
The telescope was an invention of Hans Lippershey but it was Galileo who improved it.
His first telescope had a capacity of 3x zoom but within a year he succeeded making a stronger telescope with over 30x magnification.
This was an important invention for our understanding in astronomy.
He realized that there was an uncountable number of stars in the universe.
He saw the different phases of the planets and the moon. Maybe most famous for the discover of the moons of Jupiter, also called the Galilean moons.
This observation made him consider if the catholic teach really was right, he did not believe that the earth was the centrum of the universe.
1590 Galileo read the book of Copernicus and with his own observations he started to believe in heliocentric, that means that all the planets circuits around the sun.
It was 1632 Galileo gave out his book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. This made chaos.
That is understandable because for ages people have believed that earth was the centre of the universe. Now someone told them that what they knew was wrong.
The catholic church wasn’t happy with this, they wanted people to believe their theory and 1633 accused for teaching the false doctrine.
With support from the pope Urban VIII and his age reduced the judgment.
He could now never leave his house but that did not stop him from writing new books.
Why I chose to write about the telescope is because he went against the church, telling people that what they knew about earth and the solar system was wrong. He made people think independently, not believe every thing the church told them. Also other people could now study the sky with help from his telescope. This must have lead to a bunch of new discovers.
If you want to read more about Galileo Galilei check out this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei
\\Christopher
I really enjoyed your article, Christopher! :)
And I like your thought, that Galileo made simple regular people think independently. After all, they were sort of like obedient lambs following others. They wouldn't ask questions and blindly believed in what more powerful people stated. They desired salvation, and everything that (e.g.) the representatives of the Church said must have been true. We have to remember they were uneducated and Heaven was for them the only chance to be free, in a way.
Galileo, as you wrote, improved the telescope. This gave him bases to doubt if Earth was really the centre of the world. Even though he was condemned and sentenced to not leaving his house, he could still write his books and spread the word. He wanted people to be enlightened, just as he was. ;)
