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Definition: Galileo Galilei 1564-1642, from Dictionary of Energy

Italian astronomer and physicist associated with many of the important advances in science in the late Middle Ages. He made major investigations in mechanics, including experiments on acceleration, friction, inertia, and falling bodies. He improved the telescope and pioneered its use for astronomical observation, discovering mountains on the moon, many new stars, the four satellites of Jupiter, and the composition of the Milky Way. He also supported the theories of Copernicus concerning the motion of the planets.

Galileo (1564-1643)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place : Italy Subject : biography, physics Italian physicist and astronomer whose work founded the modern scientific method of deducing laws to explain the results of observation and experiment. In physics, Galileo discovered the properties of the pendulum, invented the thermometer, and formulated the laws that govern the motion of falling bodies. In astronomy, Galileo was the first to use the telescope to make observations of the Moon, Sun, planets, and stars. Galileo was born in Pisa on 15 February 1564. His full name was Galileo Galilei, his father being Vincenzio Galilei ( c. 1520-1591), a musician and mathematician. Galileo received his early education from a private tutor at Pisa until 1575, when his family moved to Florence. He then studied at a monastery until 1581, when he returned to Pisa to study medicine at the university. Galileo was attracted to mathematics rather than medicine, however, and also began to take an interest in physics. In about 1583 he discovered that a…
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Full text Article Galileo Galilei

From Philosophy of Science A-Z
Italian scientist and natural philosopher, one of the founders of modern science. He is the author of Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World (1632), in which he defended the Copernican heliocentric system against the Aristotelian cosmology, and Discourse Concerning Two New Sciences…
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Full text Article Galileo Galilei

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
Italian astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first to use the telescope for astronomical observations, discovering mountains and craters on the Moon, and four satellites of Jupiter now known as the Galilean satellites. He observed the phases of Venus, and studied sunspots, from…
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Full text Article Galileo

From Philip's Encyclopedia
(Galileo Galilei) Italian physicist and astronomer. According to legend, Galileo observed that a hanging lamp in Pisa Cathedral took the same time to complete one oscillation however long the swing, and he suggested the pendulum could be used for timekeeping. He later studied falling bodies, and…
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Galileo Galilei made important contributions to...
Also known as: Galileo Galilei (b. 1564–d. 1642) Italian mathematician, physicist, and astronomer Galileo Galilei was the most important physical scientist of his time. His father, Vincenzo Galilei, performed significant experiments in musical science. After entering the University of Pisa in 1581…
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Full text Article Galileo

From Chambers Biographical Dictionary
properly Galileo Galilei 1564-1642 Italian astronomer, mathematician and natural philosopher Galileo was born in Pisa, the son of a musician. He matriculated at Pisa University (1581), where he accepted the chair of mathematics in 1589. From watching the movement of a lamp in the cathedral of Pisa, …
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In 1969 NASA's Outer Planet Working Group had proposed a comprehensive Outer Planets programme that included two ‘Grand Tour’ spacecraft, plus a Jupiter orbiter to be launched in 1976–78, followed by a Jupiter atmospheric multiprobe two years later. In the event the Voyager 1 and 2 ‘Grand Tour’ …
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Full text Article Galileo

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(Galileo Galilei)(găl´´ĭlē'ō; gälēlĕ'ō gälēlĕ'ē), 1564–1642, great Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist. By his persistent investigation of natural laws he laid foundations for modern experimental science, and by the construction of astronomical telescopes he greatly enlarged humanity's…
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Galileo included these drawings of the phases of...
(born Feb. 15, 1564, Pisa [Italy]—died Jan. 8, 1642, Arcetri, near Florence) Galileo was an Italian natural philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, and strength of materials and to the development of the scientific method. …
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Full text Article Galileo

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Spacecraft launched from the space shuttle Atlantis on 18 October 1989 to explore the planet Jupiter. Galileo's probe entered the atmosphere of Jupiter in December 1995. It radioed information back to the orbiter for 57 minutes before the craft was destroyed by atmospheric pressure. The first…
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Full text Article GALILEO

From The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics
Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy, where he pursued his first interest, medicine, before moving on to mathematics. From 1592 to 1610 he was professor of mathematics at Padua, applying the study to the mysteries of motion, of both the celestial and the earthly kind. From 1610 he became ‘first…
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