The Contributions by Galileo Galilei For society and science were basic to many of the later physical and astronomical discoveries.
In the Renaissance , Galileo Galilei revolutionized the beliefs that societies had adopted many years ago, whose maxims had been expressed by religious authorities or philosophers without any scientific support.
He was born on February 15, 1564, in Italy. It is called the Father of Modern Science, and precursor of the Scientific Revolution during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
In 1604, after the appearance of a supernova that fascinated many scientists and observers and provoked unrelenting speculations, Galileo realized that the universe was not immutable and began to investigate to prove the validity of his Copernican theory.
Six years later, Galileo would discover the four largest satellites of Jupiter. In addition, he studied the oval shadow of Saturn, the phases of Venus, and sunspots, despite the limitations of his telescope.
In his time, the innovation of his postulates cost him to be taken to the court of the Catholic Church, formerly called the Inquisition, for challenging the Bible and for which he was forced to abandon the model of Copernicus About the universe.
Galileo Galilei's most outstanding contributions
1- First law of the movement
Galileo was the precursor of the law of the movement postulated by Newton . Galilei concluded that all bodies accelerate at the same rate despite their size or mass. He developed the concept of movement in terms of speed (speed and direction) through the use of inclined planes.
In addition, he developed the idea of force as a cause for motion, and determined that the natural state of an object is rest or uniform motion, for example, objects always have a velocity, and sometimes that velocity has a magnitude of zero which is Equal to rest.
He further postulated that objects resist changes in motion, which is called inertia.
2 - Improvement of the telescope
Galileo did not invent the telescope, however the improvements made by the scientist to the Dutch version of the instrument allowed the development of his empirical discoveries. Previous telescopes increased objects three times the original size, but Galilei learned to focus the lenses and created a telescope with a 30x magnification.
3- Discovery of the satellites of Saturn
With the new telescope, Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the four largest satellites of Jupiter, craters on the surface of the Moon, as well as sunspots and the phases of Venus.
The telescope also revealed that the universe contained many more stars that were not visible to human eyes. Galileo Galilei, through the monitoring of sunspots, inferred that the Earth could rotate on its own axis.
The discovery of the phases of Venus was the first test that supported the Copernican theory, which claimed that planets orbit the Sun, and would be illuminated according to the position of the planet with respect to the Sun.
4. The heliocentrism
Galileo's observations discredited the theory of Aristotle Which explained that the solar system revolved around the Earth, and defended the heliocentric model of Copernicus. The presence of moons in the orbit around Jupiter suggested that Earth was not the absolute center of motion in the cosmos as Aristotle had proposed.
In addition, the discovery of the surface of the Moon denied the Aristotelian viewpoint, which exposed an immutable and perfect universe. Galileo Galilei also postulated the theory of solar rotation.
5- Divorce between science and the Church
After contradicting Aristotle's theory, which was the theory approved by the Catholic Church at that time, Galileo Galilei was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to arrest at his home.
This provoked a separation between the ecclesiastical dogmas and the scientific investigation, which generated a Scientific Revolution, besides a change in the society that marked the future investigations.
6- Scientific methodology
Galileo Galilei introduced a new way of investigating, through scientific method Which was based on three steps, intuition or resolution, demonstration and experiment.
Galileo used this method in all his most important discoveries, which has been improved over time. To this day, it is a reference in research of scientific level.
7- Law of fall
Before the time of Galileo, scientists thought that force caused speed as Aristotle said. Galileo showed that force causes acceleration.
Galilei concluded that bodies fall on the surface of the Earth at a constant acceleration, and that the force of gravity which causes all bodies to go down is a constant force.
8- Your mathematical ideas
Speeches and demonstrations around two new sciences related to mechanics Was one of the greatest works of Galileo Galilei . Its original name is Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze attineti la mecanica.
Galileo presents in this work one of his most famous and lasting mathematical ideas, such as the movement of objects in an inclined plane, the acceleration of bodies in free fall and the movement of the pendulums.
It was published in Leyden, Holland in 1634, after presenting problems in its presentation with the Catholic Church in Italy.
9- The thermoscope
One of the most notable inventions of Galileo Galilei was the thermoscope, a version that would later become the thermometer.
By the year 1593, Galileo built the thermoscope using a small glass filled with water and attached it to a narrow straight vertical pipe with an empty glass ball at the tip. This thermoscope depended on temperature and pressure to produce a result.
10- The military compass
Galileo improved a geometric and military compass between 1595 and 1598. This compass was multifunctional. The military used it to measure the elevation of the barrel of the barrel, while traders used it to calculate the exchange rate of the currencies.
References
- Galilei G. Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems. London: Modern Library Science, 2001.
- The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed, 2012.
- Sharrat, Michael. Galileo: Decisive Innovator. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1994.
- SparkNotes: The Scientific Revolution (1550 - 1700) - The Re-Formation of the Heavens.
- Galileo and Scientific Method, W Fisher Jr... Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1993, 6: 4 p. 256-7.
- Galileo's Law of Fall. Extracted from Encyclopedia Muse. Muse.tau.ac.il.
- Drake, Stillman. Galileo: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.