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Get the facts about Galileo Galilei, who helped advance the telescope and develop kinematics. Learn more Galileo Facts and share the knowledge!

  • Galileo was born (1564.) in Pisa, Italy.
  • Galilei was called the “father of modern observational astronomy”.
  • Galileo built his first telescope in 1609, which featured three times magnification.
    Galileo Facts

    “Where the senses fail us, reason must step in.” – Galileo

  • Galileo also invented a geometric compass, a microscope, and the pendulum clock.
  • Galilei was the first to see craters on the moon and he discovered the four moons of Jupiter (Io, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa).
  • Galileo noticed that the planet Saturn wasn’t round. It was later discovered that Saturn had rings.
  • Galileo also did research into gravity and speed.
  • Galileo was a proponent of the heliocentric theory of the universe.
  • Galilei also courted the opposition of the Holy Roman Catholic Church because of this view.
  • Galileo disagreed with Kepler’s theory that the Moon caused tides on Earth.
  • Despite being censured by the church, Galileo continued to make discoveries until death overtook him in 1642.
  • The Vatican officially recognized the validity of Galileo’s work in 1993.
  • Einstein was Galileo’s biggest fan.
  • A hundred years after he died, when his body was being moved for reburial, a fan snipped off the middle finger of his right hand as a memento.
  • Galileo’s finger is now on display, erect, at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence.
  • The song “Galileo” is the biggest hit of the folk group Indigo Girls.

Check out our interesting facts about Michael Faraday!

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