Galileo Galilei needs no introduction. The iconoclastic Italian astronomer is one of the most well-renowned figures of modern science, and he is variously hailed as the father of observational astronomy , the scientific method – even science itself. He was certainly one of the most prominent figures of the scientific revolution of the 17th century, even if the Galilean telescope he is fondly remembered for “inventing” was just an original improvement to an existing device. Galileo is best remembered, of course, for his eponymous Affair - which involved the clash between his own interpretation of religiosity and its attendant bearing on scientific observations and conclusions. As common knowledge holds, Galileo’s repeated and sustained support …show more content…
Indeed, this issue, once considered unprovable, has been settled with such finality that uninformed skepticism toward it is met with anything between faint disparagement and outright ridicule. The salience of the Galileo Affair, which many would like to classify an artifact of less enlightened times (with the customary temporal high-handedness), is nevertheless guaranteed by the fact that it brought into focus the conflicting methodologies of the scientific community, and the Church authority. While both ostensibly seek to establish that which is true, the fundamental difference lies in the credence they give to observations and experimental data, vis-à-vis traditionally established …show more content…
Spurred by this, he undertook a two-year long voyage around the world, and more specifically around the South American coastline, where he curated extensive and near-exhaustive collections of local fauna, with specimens from all manner of animals, including plankton in the sea, and gigantic tortoises. He also conducted careful geological surveys – indeed, the voyage of the Beagle was not focused on collection, but primarily geology – with his associate Robert FitzRoy. This could very well be compared Galileo’s fascination with the perspicillum , which he later refined into its better-known cousin the telescope, that inadvertently led him to greater discoveries – much like this voyage would do for Darwin Darwin was something of an expert coleopterist and inveterate dissecter of marine invertebrates; He could hardly have been termed conversant in the study of avian species. As such, when he catalogued the now-famous Galapagos finches, he preliminarily divided them among finches, mockingbirds, blackbirds, wrens, and even grosbeaks! It was brought to his attention by ornithologist John Gould that they were, in fact, simply distinct species of