A Scientist who made the world Think! Galileo Galilei

We are going to probe into the life of a legend who not only opened the door for the future scientists but also ensured that faith should not interfere in logic, i.e science. We will see how a simple man should against the world and the faith to create some space for Science, he fought for it till he could and finally was convicted and house impriosed where he finally died. So lets salute the Great one and let yourself drown into inspirational story of his incredible life and learn what was different in him that he now is remembered as the "Father of Modern Science."

In the court room in vertican city there stands a 69 year old man in the conviction box, the presence of famous contemporary philosophers, theologists and religious people has made the gathering memorable. The proceedings is headed by the pope of Roman Catholic Church tilted Pope Urban VIII (see top pic). The old man is Galileo Galilie being on church trial against the charges of heresy.It is April 1633 and Galileo is being accused by there present people and the pope for going against the Aristotle theory and challenging the faith of the people in bible. Church has seen such trial against the heresy in the past and the punishment was not less than torture followed by death. But Galileo was convinced has church will be soft with him as more than half of the important people including the Judge Pope Urban VIII were the old friends and well wishers of the Legend who had such a deep and widespread impact on the contemporary world that it was marking a beginning of a new era.

Days past by as the trial went on each day pope would hear the charges and arguments and Galileo's defense on the same. Finally it was a day in June 1633 when Church decided it will announce the punishment. The acquaintances of the old man were hoping it not to be death sentence. Finally there was verdict that he will be house impriosed and will not be allowed to further publish any work and his present works were banned from distribution.

It is 15th February 1564, it is in Tuscany, Italy where lived a rebellious musician Vncenzio known for the his new revolutionary ideas in music and reluctance in accepting the conventions blindingly. Her wife Gulia Galilie has given birth to a new child who was named Galileo Galilie. He was brought up in Tuscany, a place in the lap of nature and like heaven on earth. He received his early education only through tutors, who visited his house for giving him the lessons. His father wanted to join him the medicine field and it had a lot of money. Galileo couldn't go against his father and at the age of 17 he finally joined a university.

It was university of Pisa, in 1681 he begun his student life in the university as a medical student, One day he attended the math lecture and was so impressed by the beauty of the subject that he became the regular attender of the math lecture and used to raise such unorthodox points in the class that the professor soon perceived the brimming talent in him and advised him to go for the course change. Despite of the opposition from his father Galileo decided to after his interest and now he was a math undergraduate.

Galileo was soon being recognized as a student who had different views at looking at the thinks, his mathematical skills impressed his teachers and batch mates, who know knew that future scientist is evolving.

But being different does't always goes one's way, Galelio too was not a exception. He had to cope with the anger of some teachers and students when his views used to clash with that taught in the religion and aristotle.

Actually, Aristotle is considered to be a great thinker of ancient time. He gave many of his views just by simply reasoning and hardly conducted a experiment in his life. His teachings which included falling objects time depend on their mass, force is nedded to keep body moving, Earth is the center of Universe and it is in staedy state, i.e it is not changing were blindy accepted as the laws given by God for about 2000 years! And none dared or even tried to think on this , few who tried like Coprenicus were subject to scrutiny as he was belevied to go aginst the god.

On day in 1582 in the church's ceremony the pope was late, Galileo was getting bored and was pacing on the church's floor, at sudden the swinging lamp hung from the ceiling hit him with a idea that he never perceived off. He noticed that the time taken by the lamp to complete its one sing was independent of its amplitude and this presuaded him to conduct a sereis of experiments in his college. His experiments included observing various factors that affected the time takes by the bob to complete a swing, he considered the length of string, mass of bob, and the amplitude. He used to keep one constant and vary the two and noted the time. At that time there was not such clock which could be used to measure such time intervals only different types of sundial were in use. So, Galileo considered his pulse to measure the time although it was of course not so much accurate but he had no other option but one.

Finally, after the hectic work Galelio came out with results:-

1) Time interval is independent of mass of the bob and the amplitude.

2) It depends on the length and is directly proportional to its square root

His this research was a landmark in making the accurate clock using the concept of pendulum but it is interesting to note that Galelio never tried to do it and the first clock based on his principle came only after his death.

In 1585, Galileo left the university without taking the degree, as that time knowledge and the fame was more imporstant than a degree and Galileo had both. He published his first book in 1586, a year after leaving the university and it was titled II Bilancetta, in which galileo has put his views and had written about the experiments conducted by him in his University. This book got widesread acceptance and made him famous and a good mathematician and a scientist. This book also earned him some valuable freinds, in higher respected families who were to be present in the court room in 1633, when galileo was to be convicted.

But the knowledge doesn't relax your hunger, Galileo had to find a job to earn livelihood what could have been better than being the teacher.So Galileo started giving tuition lessons to those who wanted to learn a bit of science, who wanted some logic instead of just blindingly having faith in something. The house Galileo visited to teach mainly consisted of bureaucrats and other wealthy families and his students range varied from their children to their parents. Galileo had to transverse longer distances and he used a horse for the same. It was this period that Galileo made some friends having the influence on church and the society who were going to be useful in saving his life in the near future. But Galileo could't continue this profession for long as the money he earned was hardly enough to get away with his family needs. So, Galileo was try to work with the alternatives. And soon he was done...........

In 1589, his one of the influential friends got him the job of Mathematics professor in University of Pisa, the same were he passed his 4 years as a student of the same subject. Although he was paid a nominal fee, nearly one thirtieth of that to the other professors. The position changed from that of student to teacher but views remained the same, his rebellious and anti Aristotle ideas were being condemned by his mates as he was now not a student were his these ideas forced the teacher to see a curiosity in their upcoming student but rather saying as a teacher it a different thing at all.

But Galileo was firm on his ideas and wanted their mates obsessed with Aristotle to have a taste of real science and the truth. So, in 1590, he finally came up with a book titled De Motue in which he explained some basic principles of mechanics and about the falling bodies which were again countering the traditional belief and the most prominent of them was the time taken by a falling object of different mass to transverse same height.

His book was published and had mixed reactions the rationalists supported his ideas but the conservatives which included some of his mates just put it as a diversion from truth.So Galileo decide to experimentally convince them and thus we move towards one of the famous experiments of the Science history..

It was in 1591, when Galileo with he assistant climbed up hundreds of spiral stairs to reach the top of the tower all sweating and out of breath. He had two lead balls of same volume but different mass. He asked his assistant to drop one and other he himself when he made the signal. At the bottom the other professor were waiting to see the result. The balls were dropped and Galileo was found to be write proving the Aristotle theory wrong.

His this work further earned him the reputation in the science world and accusation in his own University.In 1592, his contract with the University expired and his father Vencenzio Galilei also expired. The two shocks one after the other put Galileo in worse condition. But again his acquaintances network proved t be helpful. In 1594, he was appointed a mathematics professor with higher salary and a reputation of being Galileo Galilei. He was warmly welcomed in the university of Padua which satisfied his taste for rational thinking and suitable environment for the same.

Galileo spent 18 years in Padua researching free fro peer pressure. He married Marina Gamba and fathered 3 children.

In 1604, a Supernova was seen in the night sky so clear that it was the brightest thing next to Moon in the night sky. The people couldn't understand what it was and how it appeared but what was important was it appeared. The Aristotle theory was once again proved wrong by Galileo saying that Universe is dynamic rather than static i.e none changing as Aristotle had proposed.

In 1609, with the invention of the Telescope Galileo worked to improve its quality and magnification.The telescopes in market were available with 2-4 times magnification but that of Galileo could do it 10-15 times with better quality.

With such a developed telescope he used to observe the outer space at night and compiled his observations in his book The Starry Messenger published in 1610 which also included the observation of sun spots and the moons of Saturn a Jupiter, and the point that Sun is the center of the Solar system rather than the Earth.

His these views were proving to invoke rage against himself in people. And the opposition grew with days and in 1618 when comets appeared in sky and Galileo showed mathematically that its trajectory was curved and not a straight line.

Frustrated by the opposition from blind believers Galileo wrote The Assayer challenging the church dominance in field of Science . The church outraged put Galileo in conviction box and asked him to write a book in which he had to discuss the Aristotle and Copernicus theory and finally conclude that Copernicus was wrong.

Galileo completed the book in 1632 and it was titled Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems and concluded that Aristotle theory was nothing more than speculation.

For this he was convicted in 1633 and sent to house arrest where he wrote the book considered to be his finest and greatest work in mechanics and solid properties. His friend smuggled the book to Holland away from the reach of Roman Catholic church where it was published. He also lost is sight and finally died on 8th January 1642, the same year The other great one Newton was born carrying the legacy of the legend forward and making science all new different religion.