How Did Galileo Galilei Contribute To Astronomy

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Often remembered as the Father of Astronomy, Galileo Galilei was one of the most celebrated and respected astronomers, mathematicians and physicists of mankind. Galileo is credited for developing many modern concepts such as discovering inertia, velocity, friction, and many more, which have proved to be the foundation on which research is conducted in the present times. Throughout his life, Galileo greatly contributed to the astronomical field. He improved upon the spyglass and created the telescope, which assisted him in his discoveries. He also dismissed the Aristotelian view which was dominant in that era and supported the Copernican view. His contribution in the field of astronomy includes the confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery…show more content…
His father was Vincenzo Galilei, a musician, and his mother, Giulia Ammannati, he was the first of six children. In 1574, his family moved to Florence, Italy, where Galileo started his education at Camaldolese monastery in Vallombrosa, while there he aspired to take up priesthood. In 1583, at the age of 17, he entered the University of Pisa to study medicine after following his father's advice as it made large amounts of money. While studying there, he became fascinated with many subjects such as mathematics and physics .While at Pisa, Galileo was only exposed to the Aristotelian point of view of the world because the Roman Catholic Church was the leading scientific authority in the world at that time. At first he supported it like many other sophisticated people of his time, and was close to become a professor However, due to financial issues, Galileo dropped out of the university before he could finish his degree in…show more content…
This allowed Galileo to have a clear view the surface of the moon which upon he made the discovery that the surface was rocky and uneven. In 1610, when Galileo was 46, he discovered that venus had different phases, Jupiter had moons, there is an infinite more number of stars that aren't visible than are, and Saturn has rings . He wrote a book called Sidereus Nuncius(A Starry Messenger) which Galileo dedicated to Cosimo II de Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany and named the moons after the Medici family. After Galileo's astonishing discoveries in the field of astronomy he got a job as Mathematician and Physicist of the grand duke of Tuscany. Galileo’s discoveries however great they were, didn’t prove that earth was a Planetary body, it did dismiss the Aristotelian view, where the Earth was the centre of the universe, and promote the Copernican view that The sun was the center of the universe and the Earth was a planet. After his discoveries, Galileo decided to turn his attention towards floatation where he again, invalidated the Aristotelian view where objects floated due to their flat shape, but instead argued that floatation is due to the weight of the object and the water displaced. The following year, in 1611 Galileo came up with the theory of sunspots which was explained in his book, Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti (History and
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