Galileo Galilei

1564 (Pisa)

The same year as Shakespeare.

💡 Did you know? Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564: the same year Michelangelo died and Shakespeare was born.

telescope

He decisively improved it himself.

💡 Did you know? Galileo did not invent the telescope but improved it decisively and was the first to turn it systematically to the sky.

four moons of Jupiter

Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

💡 Did you know? Jupiter's four largest moons are still called the „Galilean moons“.

heliocentric

The Earth and planets orbit the Sun.

💡 Did you know? Galileo championed Copernicus's model, in which the Earth orbits the Sun: which put him in mortal danger.

Venus orbits the Sun

A strong argument against the Earth-centred view.

💡 Did you know? The phases of Venus that Galileo observed proved it orbits the Sun: not the Earth.

Catholic Church

His worldview was seen as contradicting the Bible.

💡 Did you know? For defending the heliocentric model, Galileo clashed with the Catholic Church's Inquisition.

And yet it moves

Not historically documented, but famous.

💡 Did you know? „And yet it moves“ Galileo supposedly muttered after his forced recantation: though the quote is not documented.

recantation and house arrest

He remained under arrest until his death in 1642.

💡 Did you know? In 1633 the Inquisition forced him to recant: Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

all bodies fall equally fast

Regardless of their mass (without air resistance).

💡 Did you know? By legend, Galileo dropped balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to show heavy and light bodies fall at the same rate.

1992

About 350 years after his death.

💡 Did you know? Only in 1992 (over 350 years later) did the Catholic Church officially rehabilitate Galileo.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian polymath whose telescope observations supported the heliocentric worldview.

💡 Did you know? The Catholic Church only rehabilitated him in 1992: more than 350 years after his trial.