Galileo Facts

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.
  

  “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!