The most IMPORTANT contributions of Galileo Galilei

Throughout our history there have been many great inventors and researchers that have changed our perception of the world. These great people, famous for their feats, have managed to create and discover things that seemed impossible, but that we currently see as something normal. One of these geniuses is Galileo, who you have surely heard of, as well as his various discoveries and inventions. Due to the great importance of it, in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about contributions of Galileo Galilei.

Before starting to talk about the contributions of Galileo Galilei, we are going to delve into the biography of this scientist to better understand who he was. Of Italian origin, Galileo covered a huge number of facets, being mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physicist and inventor. The importance of him was such that living in the Renaissance, one of the periods of greatest splendor of geniuses, he is considered one of the greatest thinkers From this epoch.

Galileo was born in the Italian city of Pisa on February 15, 1564, being the son of a family of Italian merchants. When Galileo was 10 years old, his parents left for Florence, leaving the young man with a religious neighbor who introduced Galileo to church life. But Galileo's religious life was not very long, since when his father found out he returned to Pisa and he introduced Galileo to the University of Pisa, to leave ecclesiastical life and study medicine.

Galileo did not spend too many years studying medicine and he ended up studying mathematics and physics. At the age of 25, Galileo was already combining his life between his work as a mathematics teacher, and his research in different fields of science.

In later years Galileo became someone very important, due to their huge discoveries in different fields, one of the most relevant of him being his creation of the telescope.

In the last years he supported the Copernicus heliocentric theory, but the Inquisition accused him of heresy, and the Italian scientist had no choice but to recant so as not to end up being burned at the stake. Galileo died a liar for his belief in the Copernicus theory, even with all he had made in his life, people stayed with this moment, although currently he is one of the most respected.

One of the main reasons why Galileo is one of the most relevant people in history is because of the large number of contributions that he was able to do, some of them being very important for science, and without which society would not have been able to advance so quickly. Next, we should talk about some of the main ones.

The pendulum

Galileo carried out extensive research on the oscillations made by the pendulum, realizing that the weight of the pendulum ball, and that it was the length of the string that varied the time it took for the pendulum to return to position. This was very important to Galileo, as it served to validate some of his laws and theories about the motion of bodies.

The hydrostatic balance

An invention based on the Archimedes' principle, whose function was to measure the weight of objects by submerging them in water. It was a very important creation, being able to measure densities of many elements, both solid and liquid. This model evolved over the years, serving as the basis for current scales.

Thermoscope or water thermometer

A tube ended in a large sphere, which was contained by water or alcohol. He used the hot air to move the water around the tube, which was marked by a series of temperatures. From this invention, the current thermometers would later be born, being therefore a very relevant discovery.

Geometric compass

It was one of the first inventions of the Italian genius, which not only made a profit when sold, but Galileo also charged for teaching people to use it, using this money for research into many of the other inventions of this pulled apart. He was capable of performing any polygon, and also of performing important mathematical operations. At the same time it was used for military operations, serving to calculate, for example, the direction of the guns.

Microscope

Due to his study of lenses Galileo discovered a kind of microscope, which he nicknamed ochiollino. It was very different from what we understand as a microscope, but its function was very similar. The quality of the invention was far from being that of the most modern microscopes, but it was very useful for the investigations of the time.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we explain The parts of a microscope and their use.

Telescope

Galileo's greatest invention, the first telescope in history, with which he could see much better the Moon, the stars and other planets of the Solar System. It was thanks to the telescope that Galileo was able to do enormous research in astronomy, such as his demonstration of the heliocentric model or his discovery of the moons of Jupiter.

Thanks to these inventions, Galileo was able to do great discoveries, many of which were vital to later science. Some of the discovery and laws of it were as follows:

• He demonstrated the heliocentric model, according to which the Sun was the center of the universe.
• He discovered several of Jupiter's satellites. These satellites were Europa, Io, Ganymede, and Callisto.
• He observed the Saturn's rings, but he did not have the means to investigate them. He also saw Neptune, but thought it was a star and not a planet.
• He promulgated the laws of motion, for example that all bodies fall at the same speed.
• He created the scientific method of solution-composition, which consisted of the following four steps: observation, hypothesis elaboration, deduction and verification.