Galileo — Father of Modern Physics
The man who turned the telescope to the heavens and championed experimental science
2.1 Telescopic Discoveries
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) built an improved telescope in 1609 and discovered the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, craters on the Moon, and countless stars in the Milky Way. These observations provided powerful evidence for the Copernican model.
2.2 The Science of Motion
Galileo's experiments with inclined planes and pendulums established the foundations of kinematics. He showed that falling bodies accelerate uniformly regardless of weight, overturning Aristotle. His principle of relativity — that the laws of physics are the same in any uniformly moving frame — anticipated Einstein by three centuries.
2.3 The Trial of Galileo
In 1633, the Roman Inquisition forced Galileo to recant his support for heliocentrism. He spent his remaining years under house arrest but continued to write, publishing the Two New Sciences (1638), which laid the groundwork for Newton's mechanics.