12 May 2017
Renaissance Character Essay
By: Lesedi Mokhele
Galileo Galilei Essay
Considered the farther of modern science, Galileo Galilei made major contributions to the fields of physics, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. Despite the struggles in his life such as house arrest, Galileo has revolutionize vast amounts in our modern day lives. The discoveries made by Galileo has helped with knowing weather, noticing change in our agriculture and even understanding why our sky looks the way it does when we have eclipses and our moon phases. Galileo Galilei was a mathematics professor who made pioneering observations of nature with long-lasting implications for the study of physics.
On the 15th of February 1564, an Italian genius had breathed his first breath of life and was destined for greatness to humanity. Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy. He was the son of Vincenzo Galilei, a musician. He received his education at an early age at the monastery of Vallombrosa near Florence in 1574. This exposure to education is a factor that enabled his intelligence and mental foundations in his fields. In 1581, Galileo entered the University of Pisa to study medicine but was soon sidetracked by mathematics. While Galileo was in university in the year 1583 made his first important discovery, describing the rules that govern the motion of pendulums, which helped with an accurate timekeeping devise (a clock).All these events were a build up and foundation in his early years to Galileo’s huge achievements.
Galileo revolutionized science and has created and improved mechanisms that we use in this present day. A mechanism Galileo has made is the Geometrical or Military Compass. This revolutionary mechanism is used for locating North, East, South and West to navigate around our planet and is helpful when lost. In 1609 Galileo improved the telescope upon the Dutch design of the telescope. Through the works of producing his telescope by making the lens of instrument zoom ten times further. This allowed Galileo to study the star’s and even see as far as Jupitar and its moon’s. As said from a documentry on the ‘History’ channel, “Galileo is truly the farther and founder of modern science and our observation of our surroundings would look much different than it does today without his remarkable mind.” Galileo was a movement within the human history.
At this point in time, Galileo performed his greatest discovery in The Law of Motion. Galileo started his research into the theory of motion, first disproving the Aristotelian contention that bodies of different weights fall at different speeds. Because of financial difficulties, Galileo, in 1592, applied for and was awarded the chair of mathematics at Padua, where he was to remain for 18 years and perform the bulk of his most outstanding work. At Padua he continued his research on motion and proved theoretically (about 1604) that falling bodies obey what came to be known as the law of uniformly accelerated motion (in such motion a body speeds up or slows down uniformly with time). Galileo also gave the law of parabolic fall (e.g., a ball thrown into the air follows a parabolic path). The legend that he dropped weights from the leaning tower of Pisa apparently has no basis in fact. This research collected by Galileo has helped us in our modern day to understand velocity, which has contributed to the importance and accomplishments of landing aeroplanes and rockets. Galileo made attributes to modern transportation devises (e.g cars, bicycles) and ‘such’ could not have been done if the Law of Motion was not discovered.
In conclusion, Galileo has made a difference in human history and has shaped modern science, mathematics and philosophy. His genius mind has inspired generations after him to expand in his discoveries and experiments.
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