The Renaissance to the Present.
One of the greatest thinkers and innovators during the scientific revolution was Galileo Galilei. The Italian astronomy was a contributor and laid the foundation for most modern science and physics concepts. His experiments and belief system at the time led to a lot of discoveries and improvements in the scientific field. The scientific world attributes many developments to him. He was the discoverer of the moons of the planet Jupiter and also propounded that the surface of the moon was not flat as many had believed (Pisano, Raffaele and Paolo, 9). Instead, his extensive study of the skies with a telescope proved that the surface of the moon contained a lot of features, including mountains and craters. NASA acknowledged him when it sent its astronauts to Jupiter in the 1990s. Even though some people credit him for the creation of the telescope, it is not entirely true. He improved on them, but was not their novel creator. Galileo also put forward the principles of relativity. These state that the laws of physics remain constant in any system that is moving at a constant speed in a straight line.
Even though many people respect him today as one of the greatest thinkers of his time, his theories and discoveries were not entirely accurate. He made observations on the planet Venus and came up with explanations for the movement of tides. According to his philosophy, he believed that because of the earth’s rotation, tides resulted from the sloshing back-and-forth flow of water in the seas on the earth’s surface, which occurred from earth’s turning on its axis. Later, scientists came to discover the tide movements relating to the moon and not in line with Galileo’s belief. His work set the groundwork for more studies into such theories and how they relate to happenings around the world. His resilience and discoveries almost cost him his life. He stood trial before Rome because of his belief against the popular notion at the time that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun, moon and stars orbited around it. His most significant influence during his time was contributing to the scientific revolution. He opened the mind of many other scientists to a world of possibilities and ground for more research and experiments. He inspired the works of great minds such as Shakespeare and also provided a metaphorical model for grasping the evolution of culture.
Before the birth of Galileo Galilei, the world did not know the concepts of clocks, telescopes, or microscopes. The Catholic church at the time enforced a culture of a belief in a geocentrism system where other bodies revolved around the earth (Angeli, 16). Galileo’s credence and exposition of an otherwise aspect made the church name him a heretic. Many have formed their basis for an argument against the church’s support of science on Galileo’s trials. However, this is not the case. The Jesuits at the time had an excellent representation of astronomers and scientists. The view of heliocentrism was a new concept beyond their grasp and technological reach. Further, Galileo’s approach was also weak; he did not propose a theory but maintained that it was the truth. Despite the turn of events following his views, Galileo set the ball running and laid a foundation for more studies and understanding of our universe. It also became clear in later years that he was entirely correct in his supposition. He had stated that the sun was the center of the universe and not just the solar system. However, we now know that the sun rotates and revolves around the center of the milky way galaxy and not the earth.
Works Cited.
Angeli, Silvia. “Still Banned After All These Years-Retracing the Journey of Cavani’s ‘Revolutionary’ Galileo (1968).” Journal of Religion & Film 21.2 (2017): 16.
Pisano, Raffaele, and Paolo Bussotti. “Introduction. 1564-2014. Homage to Galileo Galilei.” Philosophia Scientiæ. Travaux d’Histoire et de philosophie des sciences 21-1 (2017): 7-15.