Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist,
mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher,
and one of the pioneers of the scientific
method.
Galileo overturned that Aristotelian worldview,
according to which the world can be explained
mainly through logic.
For example:
Aristotle had claimed that the velocity of
falling bodies is relative to their weight.
logically, even intuitively, that might sound
right...
But by putting this hypothesis to the test,
Galileo proved that all objects fall at the
same rate of acceleration.
Aristotle claimed that falling objects maintain
a constant speed;.
Galileo proved that speed increases in proportion
to the distance of the fall.
Galileo also refuted the popular Aristotelian
belief that earth is fixed in the center of
the universe, while the stars and planets
are metaphysical beings that revolve around
it.
This is known as Geo-Centrism
By inventing an improved telescope, Galileo
was able to discover four of Jupiter's moons--thus
proving that celestial objects can orbit something
other than the Earth.
While the craters he discovered on the moon
refuted Aristotle’s theory about the meta-physical
nature of the heavens.
Galileo then concluded that the laws of physics
apply equally throughout the universe
Galileo's discoveries paved the way for the
Heliocentric model published by Polish mathematician
and astronomer, Nicolaus Cupernicus which
argued that, despite appearances, the sun
neither rises nor sets.
it is earth that is orbiting the sun.
Unfortunately, Galileo failed to convince
the Church that Heliocentrism does not contradict
the Bible.
A tour in the dungeons of the Inquisition,
however, did convince Galileo to recant.
He was sentenced to house-arrest for the remainder
of his life, and forbidden from publishing
his writings.
The ban on the complete, uncensored works
of Galileo was lifted only in 1835.
Galileo's paradigm-shifting contribution to
a scientific method which is based on experiments,
is the reason why he is considered, by many
historians, the "father of modern physics."
