(1564 —1642)
The name of this man caused both admiration and hatred of his contemporaries. Nevertheless, he entered the history of world science not only as a follower of Giordano Bruno, but also as one of the greatest scientists of the Italian Renaissance.
He was born on February 15, 1564 in the city of Pisa into a noble but impoverished family. His father Vincenzo Galilei was talented musician and a composer, but art did not provide a livelihood, and the father of the future scientist earned money by trading in cloth.
Until the age of eleven, Galileo lived in Pisa and studied at regular school and then moved to Florence with his family. Here he continued his education in a Benedictine monastery, where he studied grammar, arithmetic, rhetoric and other subjects.
At the age of seventeen, Galileo entered the University of Pisa and began to prepare for the profession of a doctor. At the same time, out of curiosity, he read works on mathematics and mechanics, in particular, Euclid And Archimedes.The latter later Galileo always called his teacher.
Due to cramped financial situation the young man had to leave the University of Pisa and return to Florence. At home, Galileo took up in-depth study mathematics and physics, which he was very interested in. In 1586 he wrote his first scientific work"Small hydrostatic balance", which brought him some fame and allowed him to get acquainted with several
scientists. Under the patronage of one of them, the author of the Textbook of Mechanics, Guido Ubaldo del Monte, in 1589 Galilei received the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa. At twenty-five, he became a professor at the place where he studied, but did not complete his education.
Galileo taught students mathematics and astronomy, which he expounded, of course, according to Ptolemy. It was to this time that the experiments that he set, throwing various bodies from an inclined leaning tower of pisa to check if they fall in accordance with the teachings of Aristotle - heavy faster than light ones. The answer turned out to be negative.
In On Motion (1590), Galileo criticized the Aristotelian doctrine of the fall of bodies. In it, among other things, he wrote: "If reason and experience coincide in something, it does not matter to me that this contradicts the opinion of the majority."
The establishment by Galileo of the isochronism of small oscillations of the pendulum belongs to the same period - the independence of the period of its oscillations from the amplitude. He came to this conclusion while watching the swinging of the chandeliers in the Pisa Cathedral and noting the time by the beating pulse on his arm... Guido del Monte highly valued Galileo as a mechanic and called him the "Archimedes of modern times".
Galileo's criticism of the physical ideas of Aristotle set against him numerous supporters of the ancient Greek scientist. The young professor became very uncomfortable in Pisa, and he accepted an invitation to take the chair of mathematics at the famous University of Padua.
The Padua period is the most fruitful and happy in the life of Galileo. Here he found a family, linking his fate with Marina Gamba, who bore him two daughters: Virginia (1600) and Livia (1601); later a son, Vincenzo, was born (1606).
Since 1606, Galileo has been engaged in astronomy. In March 1610, his work entitled "The Starry Herald" was published. It is unlikely that so much sensational astronomical information was reported in one work, moreover, literally during several night observations in January - February of the same 1610.
Having learned about the invention of the telescope and having a good workshop of his own, Galileo makes several samples of telescopes, constantly improving their quality. As a result, the scientist managed to make a telescope with a magnification of 32 times. On the night of January 7, 1610, he points the telescope to the sky. What he saw there lunar landscape, mountain. Chains and peaks that cast shadows, valleys and seas - already led to the idea that the Moon is similar to the Earth - a fact that did not testify in favor of religious dogmas and Aristotle's teachings about the special position of the Earth among celestial bodies.
Huge white stripe in the sky - the Milky Way - when viewed through a telescope, it was clearly divided into separate stars. Near Jupiter, the scientist noticed small stars (first three, then one more), which changed their position relative to the planet the very next night. Galileo, with his kinematic perception of natural phenomena, did not need to think long - before him were the satellites of Jupiter! - another argument against the exclusive position of the Earth. Galileo discovered the existence of four moons of Jupiter. Later, Galilei discovered the phenomenon of Saturn (although he did not understand what was the matter) and discovered the phases of Venus.
By observing how sunspots move across the solar surface, he found that the Sun also rotates around its axis. Based on observations, Galileo concluded that rotation around an axis is characteristic of all celestial bodies.
Observing the starry sky, he was convinced that the number of stars is much greater than can be seen. with a simple eye. So Galileo confirmed Giordano Bruno's idea that the expanses of the Universe are endless and inexhaustible. After that, Galileo concluded that the heliocentric system of the world proposed by Copernicus is the only true one.
The telescopic discoveries of Galileo were met by many with distrust, even with hostility, but the supporters of the Copernican doctrine, and above all Kepler, who immediately published the Conversation with the Starry Messenger, treated them with delight, seeing in this confirmation of the correctness of their convictions.
The Star Messenger brought the scientist European fame. Tuscan
Duke Cosimo II de' Medici invited Galileo to take the position of court mathematician. She promised a comfortable existence, free time for science, and the scientist accepted the offer. In addition, this allowed Galileo to return to his homeland, to Florence.
Now, having a powerful patron in the person of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Galileo more and more boldly begins to propagate the teachings of Copernicus. Clerical circles are alarmed. The authority of Galileo as a scientist is high, his opinion is listened to. So, many will decide, the doctrine of the motion of the Earth is not just one of the hypotheses of the structure of the world, which simplifies astronomical calculations.
The anxiety of the ministers of the church about the triumphant spread of the teachings of Copernicus is well explained by the letter of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino to one of his correspondents: this is well said and contains no danger; and this is sufficient for mathematics; but when they start
to say that the sun actually stands at the center of the world and that it
only rotates around itself, but does not move from east to west, and that
The earth is in the third heaven and rotates around the sun with great speed, then this thing is very dangerous, and not only because it irritates all philosophers and learned theologians but also because it harms St. faith, since the falsity of Holy Scripture follows from it.
In Rome, denunciations against Galileo rained down. In 1616, at the request of the Congregation of the Holy Index (an ecclesiastical institution in charge of permits and prohibitions), eleven prominent theologians examined the teachings of Copernicus and came to the conclusion that it was false. Based on this conclusion, the heliocentric doctrine was declared heretical, and the book of Copernicus "On the Conversion celestial spheres» is included in the index of prohibited books. At the same time, all books that supported this theory were banned - those that existed and those that would be written in the future.
Galileo was summoned from Florence to Rome, and in a mild but categorical
form demanded to stop the propaganda of heretical ideas about
arrangement of the world. The exhortation was carried out by the same Cardinal Bellarmino.
Galileo was forced to comply. He did not forget how persistence in "heresy" ended for Giordano Bruno. Moreover, as a philosopher, he knew that "heresy" today becomes truth tomorrow.
IN 1623 Galileo's friend becomes pope under the name of Urban VIII
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini. The scientist hurries to Rome. He hopes to achieve the abolition of the prohibition of the "hypothesis" of Copernicus, but in vain. The pope explains to Galileo that now, when the Catholic world is torn apart by heresy, it is unacceptable to question the truth of the holy faith.
Galileo returns to Florence and continues to work on a new book, without losing hope of someday publishing his work. In 1628, he visits Rome again to reconnoiter the situation and find out the attitude of the highest hierarchs of the church towards the teachings of Copernicus. In Rome, he meets the same intolerance, but it does not stop him. Galileo finishes the book and in 1630 presents it to the Congregation.
Consideration of the work of Galileo in censorship lasted two years, then a ban followed. Then Galileo decided to publish his work in his native Florence. He managed to skillfully deceive the local censors, and in 1632 the book was published.
It was called "Dialogue about two major systems world - Ptolemaic and Copernican" and was written as dramatic work. For censorship reasons, Galileo is forced to exercise caution: the book is written in the form of a dialogue between two supporters of Copernicus and one adherent of Aristotle and Ptolemy, and each of the interlocutors tries to understand the point of view of the other, assuming its justice. In the preface, Galileo is forced to declare that since the teachings of Copernicus are contrary to the holy faith and forbidden, he is not his supporter at all, and in the book the theory of Copernicus is only discussed, not affirmed. But neither the preface nor the form of presentation could hide the truth: the dogmas of Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic astronomy suffer such an obvious collapse here, and the theory of Copernicus triumphs so convincingly that, contrary to what was said in the preface, Galileo's personal attitude to the teachings of Copernicus and his conviction in the justice of this teaching did not raise doubts.
True, it follows from the presentation that Galileo still believed in the uniform and circular motion of the planets around the Sun, that is, he was unable to evaluate and did not accept the Keplerian laws of planetary motion. He also did not agree with Kepler's assumptions regarding the causes of tides (the attraction of the moon!), instead developing own theory this phenomenon, which turned out to be incorrect.
The church authorities were furious. Sanctions followed immediately. The sale of the Dialogue was banned, and Galileo was summoned to Rome for trial. In vain did the seventy-year-old elder present the testimony of three doctors that he was ill. It was reported from Rome that if he did not come voluntarily, he would be brought by force, in shackles. And the aged scientist went on his way,
“I arrived in Rome,” writes Galileo in one of his letters, “on February 10
1633 and relied on the mercy of the Inquisition and the holy father .. First
I was locked up in the Trinity castle on the mountain, and the next day I was visited by
Commissioner of the Inquisition and took me away in his carriage.
On the way he asked me different questions and expressed the desire that I stop the scandal caused in Italy by my discovery concerning the movement of the earth ... To all mathematical proofs that I could oppose to him, he answered me with words from scripture"The earth has been and will be immovable forever and ever."
The investigation dragged on from April to June 1633, and on June 22, in the same church, almost at the same place where Giordano Bruno heard the death sentence, Galileo, on his knees, pronounced the text of the renunciation offered to him. Under the threat of torture, Galileo, refuting the accusation that he had violated the ban on propagating the teachings of Copernicus, was forced to admit that he “unconsciously” contributed to the confirmation of the correctness of this teaching, and publicly renounce it. In doing so, the humiliated Galileo understood that the process started by the Inquisition stop the triumphal procession of the new teaching, he himself needed time and opportunity to further development ideas laid down in the "Dialogue" so that they become the beginning classical system world in which there would be no place for church dogmas. This process caused irreparable damage to the Church.
Galileo did not give up, although in last years During his life he had to work in the most difficult conditions. At his villa in Arcetri, he was under house arrest (under the constant supervision of the Inquisition). Here is what he writes, for example, to his friend in Paris: “In Arcetri, I live under the strictest ban not to travel to the city and not to receive many friends at the same time, nor to communicate with those whom I receive except as extremely
with restraint ... And it seems to me that ... my current prison will be replaced
only for the long and narrow one that awaits us all.”
For two years in prison, Galileo wrote "Conversations and Mathematical Proofs ...", where, in particular, he sets out the foundations of dynamics. When the book was finished, the entire Catholic world (Italy, France, Germany, Austria) refused to print it.
In May 1636, the scientist negotiates the publication of his work in Holland, and then secretly forwards the manuscript there. "Conversations" is published in Leiden in July 1638, and the book reaches Arcetri almost a year later - in June 1639. By that time, the blinded Galileo (years hard work, age and the fact that the scientist often looked at the Sun without good filters) could only feel his offspring with his hands.
Only in November 1979, Pope John Paul II officially admitted that the Inquisition in 1633 made a mistake, forcing the scientist to renounce the theory of Copernicus by force.
It was the first and only in history catholic church a case of public recognition of the injustice of condemning a heretic, committed 337 years after his death.
Galileo Galilei was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician, philosopher and mechanic. He greatly influenced the science of his era and became the first person to use a telescope to observe celestial bodies. Scientists have made many brilliant discoveries in the field of astronomy. He became the founder of experimental physics and founded classical mechanics.
Galileo Galilei was born in the Italian city of Pisa on February 15, 1564 in the family of a noble but poor nobleman. After ten years, he became a pupil of the monastery in Vallombroms, which he left at the age of seventeen. He entered the university of his native city at the Faculty of Medicine, where he received a degree and became a professor.
In 1592, Galileo became dean of the department of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he created series greatest works in mathematics and mechanics.
The first discoveries using a telescope were described by a scientist in the work "Star Messenger". This book was a huge success. A scientist built a telescope that magnified objects three times. It was placed on the tower of San Marco in Venice. Thanks to this, everyone had the opportunity to observe the stars and the moon.
Soon a telescope was invented, magnifying more than eleven times compared to the first. The discoveries made with this telescope were described in the book The Starry Herald.
In 1637 Galileo went blind. Prior to this, he wrote last book, in which the scientist summarized all his observations and achievements in the field of mechanics.
Many years of work of a scientist, a book about the structure of the world, played bad joke in his destiny. In it, he popularized the theory of Copernicus, so it was in dissonance with Holy Scripture. For this reason, the scientist was persecuted for a long time by the Inquisition under the threat of death. He was strictly forbidden to publish works until the end of his life.
Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642. The greatest scientist was buried without honors as a common person at the scientist's villa. However, years later, in 1737, his remains were solemnly reburied next to the tomb of the great Michelangelo in Santa Croce.
A few decades later, a decree was issued to lift the ban on the work of Galileo Galilei. And the scientist was finally rehabilitated only in 1992.
Option 2
In the winter of 1564 in the city of Pisa (Italy) in a poor noble family a boy was born, who later became a famous scientist not only of his century. The works of Galileo Galilei have passed through the centuries, being confirmed and supplemented new information. From childhood, young Galileo loved painting and music, was fond of them, worked on his skills, thanks to which he mastered these types of art to perfection. Studying also attracted the boy, so he was the best among classmates.
Galileo's father saw his son's future in medicine, and therefore, when he was first admitted to a monastic order, and then became interested in studying geometry, he insisted on his son entering the University of Pisa. In almost three years of study at the university, Galileo studied and imbued with many teachings and writings of antiquity. Further, his education became impossible due to the lack of funds from his family, but a lively mind young man, his curiosity attracted, and just in time, the attention of a certain Marquis Guidobaldo del Monte. He noticed the dignity of the young man, and after 4 years Galileo returned to his university, now as a professor of mathematics.
In 1591, Galileo remained the eldest man in the family, since his father died, but a year later he was offered a place at a very prestigious university, where, in addition to mathematics, he taught astronomy and even mechanics. Over the years of work at the university, the authority of Galileo has increased significantly. Students and professors wanted to get to his lectures. The scientist himself in 1609 designs the first telescope, and in 1610 he leaves Venice, moving to Florence for plum at the Duke's court. Later, this act will turn out to be a mistake for him.
Thanks to the telescope he designed, Galileo makes more and more new assumptions about the structure of the cosmos. In particular, he becomes an adherent of the heliocentric system of world order and defends it in every possible way, acquiring an enemy in the face of Catholics. In 1611 he went to Rome, trying to convince the religious primacy of the compatibility of science and Catholicism. Having found a good reception in Rome, Galileo conducts seminars, answers questions, explains the theory with scientific point vision. And in 1615, the Inquisition starts the first case against the scientist on charges of heresy. The Church cannot accept a theory that would disprove the Bible, and the Inquisition recognizes heliocentrism as a heresy. Since 1616, any support for this theory has been banned. His further attempts to achieve the abolition of the ban do not lead to positive results.
Until 1633, the Inquisition was investigating the case of the heretic Galileo. Numerous arrests, interrogations, including torture - the scientist had to endure a lot for science. Galileo spent the last years of his life near native land but almost completely alone. The Inquisition, under the threat of prison, forbids him visitors. Galileo Galilei died in 1642, but being blind and very ill, he continued to work in various fields of science and over the past 7 years he created a large-scale work, Conversations and Mathematical Proofs of Two Sciences. Only after almost 200 years, his works were again revised, studied and found to be beyond prohibitions.
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Galileo Galilei (Italian Galileo Galilei; February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642) was an Italian philosopher, physicist and astronomer who had a significant impact on the science of his time. Galileo is mainly known for his observations of the planets and stars, his active support of the heliocentric system of the world, and his experiments in mechanics.
Galileo was born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy. At the age of 18, on the instructions of his father, he entered the University of Pisa to study medicine. While at the university, Galileo Galilei became interested in mathematics and physics. Soon he was forced to leave the university for financial reasons and began to study mechanics on his own. In 1589, Galileo returned to the University of Pisa on an invitation to teach mathematics. He later moved to the University of Padua where he taught geometry, mechanics and astronomy. At that time, he began to make significant scientific discoveries.
Everyone can speak confusedly, few can speak clearly.
Galileo Galilei
In 1609, Galileo Galilei independently built his first telescope with a convex lens and a concave eyepiece. The tube gave approximately a threefold increase. Soon he managed to build a telescope giving a magnification of 32 times. Observations through a telescope showed that the Moon was covered with mountains and pitted with craters, the stars lost their apparent size, and for the first time their colossal distance was comprehended, Jupiter found its own moons - four satellites, the Milky Way broke up into separate stars, a huge number of new stars became visible. Galileo discovers the phases of Venus, sunspots and the rotation of the Sun.
Based on observations of the sky, Galileo concluded that the heliocentric system of the world proposed by N. Copernicus is correct. This was at odds with the literal reading of Psalms 93 and 104, as well as the verse from Ecclesiastes 1:5, which speaks of the stillness of the earth. Galileo was summoned to Rome and demanded to stop promoting his views, to which he was forced to comply.
In 1632, the book "Dialogue on the two main systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernican" was published. The book is written in the form of a dialogue between two supporters of Copernicus and one supporter of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Despite the fact that the publication of the book was allowed by Pope Urban VIII, a friend of Galileo, a few months later the sale of the book was banned, and Galileo was summoned to Rome for trial, where he arrived in February 1633. The investigation dragged on from April 21 to June 21, 1633, and on June 22 Galileo had to pronounce the text of the abdication offered to him. In the last years of his life he had to work in the most difficult conditions. At his Villa Arcertri (Florence) he was under house arrest (under the constant supervision of the Inquisition) and was not allowed to visit the city (Rome). In 1634, Galileo's beloved daughter, who had cared for him, died.
Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642, he was buried in Archertri, without honors and tombstone. Only in 1737 was it performed last will- his ashes were transferred to the monastic chapel of the Cathedral of Santa Croce in Florence, where on March 17 he was solemnly buried next to Michelangelo.
From 1979 to 1981, on the initiative of Pope John Paul II, a commission for the rehabilitation of Galileo Galilei worked, and on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II officially recognized that the Inquisition had made a mistake in 1633, forcing the scientist to renounce the theory of Copernicus by force.
I prefer to find one truth, even in insignificant things, than to argue for a long time about greatest questions without reaching any truth.
On February 15, 1564, in the city of Pisa, the son of Galileo was born in the family of Vincenzo Galilei, later the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, who is now known to the whole world.
About Galileo's family
His family was not rich, but his father was a dock in different directions: in mathematics, and in music, and in art history, and even in composing music. At the age of eleven, Galileo moved with his parents to the Italian city of Florence. He was trained within the walls of the monastery, studying the works of the classics. The father was against the monastic career of his son and soon took him away from there. At the age of seventeen, Galileo begins his thorough study of philosophical and mathematical sciences at the University of Pisa, initially studying medicine, he retrained as Faculty of Law. The young man is fond of the works of Archimedes, as well as Euclid. Already in 1586, his first completely published small essay, the theme of which was hydrostatic balances, designed by him personally.
About studies and main activities
Just three years later, Galileo, who was only 25 years old, is already a professor at the University of Pisa in the science of mathematics. There are many legends about this period of time, his public experiences with dropping are especially interesting. human bodies from the tower of the city of Pisa. The period from 1592 to 1610, when the scientist, at the suggestion of the government Republic of Venice, was appointed to the position of professor at the University of Padua, is considered the most fruitful of all the years of his work, regarding the issue of hydrostatics, mechanics, strength of materials, as well as the theory of the simplest machines.
Galileo was opposed to the system of studying astronomy and mechanics according to the generally accepted scheme of Ptolemy and Aristotle, which led to the fact that by the end of his work in Padua he could already speak openly about this. Since that time, the scientist has a very difficult period of his life, this is the time of the Inquisition in Italy. Despite the fact that Padua was considered a city very far from the inquisitors, Galileo still returns to hometown Florence and begins his new service already at the Medici court, thinking that he will be protected there the mighty of the world this. Like every successful scientist, he had quite a few enemies, for example, obscurantists and ignoramuses spoke negatively about the results of his observations. They arranged constant checks, as a result of which the validity of the scientist's discoveries was nevertheless confirmed.
About discoveries
After the invention of the telescope, the scientist began to design it. And in less than a year, he created a pipe with a threefold increase. A little more time passed, and he achieved a stunning result - his pipe gave an increase of thirty-two times! The scientist had a unique opportunity to see the different phases of Venus, he discovered the presence of mountains on the lunar surface and satellites of the planet Jupiter (there were four of them).
His greatest discovery are the many stars that make up the Milky Way. This completely refuted the views of Aristotle, but was a confirmation of the system that Copernicus considered correct. After the publication of "Star Herald" ( A new book Galileo), where he personally, with his usual businesslike tone, reported on the observations made through the telescope and published the corresponding conclusions, a new understanding of his work and discoveries is taking place. "Columbus of the sky" - so they began to call the astronomer. Now it has become possible to explore the Universe with the help of terrestrial mechanics, and this is already a real revolution in worldview and science.
It is noteworthy that the works of Galileo are presented in an understandable, very close to our modern style, with an exact formulation of all statements and provisions. Thanks to the experiments conducted by him, the teaching of the great Aristotle was completely refuted, which stated that the speed of the fall is proportional to the weight of the falling body. The role of Galileo in mechanics is great, it was he who was able to give precise definition the phenomenon of uniformly accelerated movement, and also found the laws of the route and speed fluctuations in it. Thanks to the immortal creations of the great scientist, the way was cleared for use by classical and modern physicists, for their discoveries. A prime example I. Newton became such.
Galileo Galilei lived to be 78 years old, and in 1642 he died in the arms of his devoted students, Torricelli and Viviani. The ashes of the great mathematician, astronomer, physicist and mechanic rest in the church of Santa Croce (Florence).
Galileo Galilei - greatest thinker Renaissance, founder of modern mechanics, physics and astronomy, follower of ideas, predecessor.
The future scientist was born in Italy, the city of Pisa on February 15, 1564. Father Vincenzo Galilei, who belonged to an impoverished family of aristocrats, played the lute and wrote treatises on music theory. Vincenzo was a member of the Florentine Camerata Society, whose members sought to revive ancient Greek tragedy. The result of the activities of musicians, poets and singers was the creation of a new genre of opera at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.
Mother Giulia Ammannati led household and raised four children: the eldest Galileo, Virginia, Livia and Michelangelo. Younger son followed in the footsteps of his father and subsequently became famous composing art. When Galileo was 8 years old, the family moved to the capital of Tuscany, the city of Florence, where the Medici dynasty flourished, known for its patronage of artists, musicians, poets and scientists.
IN early age Galileo was sent to school at the Benedictine monastery of Vallombrosa. The boy showed the ability to draw, learn languages and exact sciences. Galileo inherited from his father ear for music and the ability to compose, but the only thing that really attracted the young man was science.
Studies
At 17, Galileo travels to Pisa to study medicine at the university. The young man, in addition to the main subjects and medical practice, became interested in attending math classes. The young man discovered the world of geometry and algebraic formulas, which influenced Galileo's worldview. During the three years that the young man studied at the university, he thoroughly studied the works of ancient Greek thinkers and scientists, and also got acquainted with the heliocentric theory of Copernicus.
After a three-year stay in educational institution Galileo was forced to return to Florence due to lack of funds for further education at parents. The management of the university did not make any concessions to the talented young man, did not give him the opportunity to complete the course and receive a degree. But Galileo already had an influential patron, the Marquis Guidobaldo del Monte, who admired Galileo's talents in the field of invention. The aristocrat took care of the ward before the Tuscan Duke Ferdinand I of Medici and provided the young man with a salary at the court of the ruler.
Work at the university
The Marquis del Monte helped the talented scientist get a teaching position at the University of Bologna. In addition to lectures, Galileo leads a fruitful scientific activity. The scientist deals with issues of mechanics and mathematics. In 1689, the thinker returned to the University of Pisa for three years, but now as a teacher of mathematics. In 1692, for 18 years, he moved to the Venetian Republic, the city of Padua.
Combining teaching work at a local university with scientific experiments, Galileo publishes the books "On Motion", "Mechanics", where he refutes ideas. During these years one of the important events- A scientist invents a telescope, which made it possible to observe the life of heavenly bodies. The discoveries made by Galileo with the help of a new device, the astronomer described in the treatise "Star Messenger".
Returning to Florence in 1610, under the care of the Duke of Tuscany Cosimo de' Medici II, Galileo published the essay "Letters on Sunspots", which was critically received by the Catholic Church. At first XVII century The Inquisition acted on a grand scale. And the followers of Copernicus were among the zealots Christian faith on a special account.
In 1600, he was already executed at the stake, who never renounced his own views. Therefore, the works of Galileo Galilei were considered provocative by Catholics. The scientist himself considered himself an exemplary Catholic and did not see a contradiction between his work and the Christocentric picture of the world. The astronomer and mathematician considered the Bible to be a book that contributes to the salvation of the soul, and not at all a scientific cognitive treatise.
In 1611, Galileo went to Rome to demonstrate the telescope to Pope Paul V. The scientist made the presentation of the device as correctly as possible and even received the approval of the metropolitan astronomers. But the request of the scientist to make a final decision on the issue of the heliocentric system of the world decided his fate in the eyes of the Catholic Church. The papists declared Galileo a heretic, and the indictment process was launched in 1615. The concept of heliocentrism was officially recognized as false by the Roman Commission in 1616.
Philosophy
The main postulate of Galileo's worldview is the recognition of the objectivity of the world, regardless of subjective perception by a person. The universe is eternal and infinite, initiated by the divine first impulse. Nothing in space disappears without a trace, only a change in the form of matter occurs. At the core material world lies the mechanical motion of particles, by studying which one can learn the laws of the universe. Therefore, scientific activity should be based on experience and sensory knowledge peace. According to Galileo, nature is the true subject of philosophy, comprehending which you can get closer to the truth and the fundamental principle of all things.
Galileo was an adherent of two methods of natural science - experimental and deductive. With the help of the first method, the scientist sought to prove the hypotheses, the second assumed a consistent movement from one experience to another, in order to achieve the completeness of knowledge. In his work, the thinker relied primarily on teaching. Criticizing the views, Galileo did not reject the analytical method used by the philosopher of antiquity.
Astronomy
Thanks to the telescope invented in 1609, which was created using a convex lens and a concave eyepiece, Galileo began observing the heavenly bodies. But a three-fold increase in the first device was not enough for a scientist for full-fledged experiments, and soon the astronomer creates a telescope with a 32-fold increase in objects.
Inventions of Galileo Galilei: telescope and first compass The first luminary, which Galileo studied in detail with the help of a new device, was the Moon. The scientist discovered many mountains and craters on the surface of the Earth's satellite. The first discovery confirmed that the Earth physical properties does not differ from other celestial bodies. This was the first refutation of Aristotle's statement about the difference between earthly and heavenly nature.
The second major discovery in the field of astronomy concerned the discovery of the four satellites of Jupiter, which in the 20th century was already confirmed by numerous space photos. Thus, he refuted the arguments of the opponents of Copernicus that if the Moon revolves around the Earth, then the Earth cannot revolve around the Sun. Galileo, due to the imperfection of the first telescopes, could not establish the period of rotation of these satellites. The final proof of the rotation of the moons of Jupiter was put forward 70 years later by the astronomer Cassini.
Galileo discovered the presence of sunspots, which he observed for a long time. Having studied the luminary, Galileo concluded that the Sun rotates around its own axis. Observing Venus and Mercury, the astronomer determined that the orbits of the planets are closer to the Sun than the earth. Galileo discovered the rings of Saturn and even described the planet Neptune, but he was not able to advance in these discoveries to the end, due to the imperfection of technology. Watching the stars through a telescope milky way, the scientist made sure of their immense number.
By experience and empirical way, Galileo proves that the Earth revolves not only around the Sun, but also around its axis, which further strengthened the astronomer in the correctness of the Copernican hypothesis. In Rome, after a hospitable reception in the Vatican, Galileo becomes a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, which was founded by Prince Cesi.
Mechanics
The basis physical process in nature, according to Galileo - mechanical movement. The scientist considered the universe as a complex mechanism consisting of the simplest causes. Therefore, mechanics has become cornerstone V scientific activity Galileo. Galileo made many discoveries in the field of mechanics itself, and also determined the direction of future discoveries in physics.
The scientist was the first to establish the law of falling and confirmed it empirically. Galileo discovered physical formula flight of a body moving at an angle to a horizontal surface. The parabolic motion of a thrown object was essential to the calculation of artillery tables.
Galileo formulated the law of inertia, which became the fundamental axiom of mechanics. Another discovery was the substantiation of the principle of relativity for classical mechanics, as well as the calculation of the formula for the oscillation of pendulums. Based on the latest research, the first pendulum clock was invented in 1657 by the physicist Huygens.
Galileo was the first to pay attention to the resistance of the material, which gave impetus to the development of an independent science. The reasoning of the scientist later formed the basis of the laws of physics on the conservation of energy in the field of gravity, the moment of force.
Mathematics
Galileo in mathematical judgments approached the idea of the theory of probability. The scientist outlined his own research on this subject in the treatise “Discourses on the game of dice”, which was published 76 years after the death of the author. Galileo was the author of the famous mathematical paradox about natural numbers and their squares. Galileo recorded the calculations in the work "Conversations about two new sciences". Developments formed the basis of the theory of sets and their classification.
Conflict with the Church
After 1616, a turning point in scientific biography Galileo, he was forced to go into the shadows. The scientist was afraid to express his own ideas explicitly, so the only book published by Galileo after Copernicus was declared a heretic was the 1623 essay The Assayer. After the change of power in the Vatican, Galileo perked up, he believed that new dad Urban VIII will react more favorably to Copernican ideas than his predecessor.
But after the appearance in print in 1632 of the polemical treatise "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World," the Inquisition again brought proceedings against the scientist. The story of the accusation repeated itself, but this time for Galileo everything ended much worse.
Personal life
While living in Padua, young Gallileo met Marina Gamba, a subject of the Venetian Republic, who became civil wife scientist. Three children were born in the family of Galileo - the son of Vincenzo and the daughters of Virginia and Livia. Since the children appeared outside of a married marriage, the girls subsequently had to become nuns. At the age of 55, Galileo managed to legitimize only his son, so the young man was able to marry and give his father a grandson, who later, like his aunts, became a monk.
Galileo Galilei was outlawed After the Inquisition outlawed Galileo, he moved to a villa in Arcetri, which was not far from the daughters' monastery. Therefore, quite often Galileo could see his beloved, eldest daughter Virginia until her death in 1634. The younger Livia did not visit her father due to illness.
Death
As a result of a short-term imprisonment in 1633, Galileo renounced the idea of heliocentrism and was placed under indefinite arrest. The scientist was placed under home guard in the city of Arcetri with limited communication. Galileo stayed at the Tuscan villa without a break until last days life. The heart of a genius stopped on January 8, 1642. At the time of death, two students, Viviani and Torricelli, were next to the scientist. During the 1930s, the last works of the thinker, Dialogues and Conversations and Mathematical Proofs Concerning Two New Branches of Science, were published in Protestant Holland.
Tomb of Galileo Galilei After his death, the Catholics forbade the burial of the ashes of Galileo in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Croce, where the scientist wanted to rest. Justice prevailed in 1737. From now on, the grave of Galileo is located next to. After another 20 years, the church rehabilitated the idea of heliocentrism. Galileo's acquittal had to wait much longer. The error of the Inquisition was only recognized in 1992 by Pope John Paul II.
