Name the person, and briefly give some of their background. On February 15, 1564, Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. When Galileo was younger, he was part of the Catholic Church and remained part of the Church throughout his life. He has many titles to be referred to as due to his extensive knowledge. Galilei studied mathematics but is considered an astronomer, physicist, inventor and philosopher. His father, Vincenzo Galilei, encouraged his son to pursue a career in the medical field in which he did, but shortly became side tracked by mathematic courses. His contributions to society included and are not limited to improving the first telescope, also known as a ‘spyglass’ in 1609 and proposing a theory that the sun is the centre of the …show more content…
Previously, an astronomer by the name of Nicolaus Copernicus had developed a theory of a Heliocentric solar system in which the sun is the centre of the solar system. Galileo was able to confirm Copernicus’ theory and contribute evidence to the proposed theory. By remodeling the telescope to magnify an object 20x larger, he was able to identify the phases of venus and disproved the church's theory of a Ptolemaic model, an earth centered universe. Galileo concluded that the phases of Venus can be explained by the planet revolving around the sun, passing beyond and behind in which to provide different variations of lighting. Therefore, Galileo was able to prove that the centre of the universe was not the earth, but in fact the …show more content…
With evidence Galileo gained through the improvement upon the telescope, the heliocentric theory is now widely accepted. In modern society Galileo’s greatly accepted as all over the world there has been events such as conferences, lectures and exhibits dedicated to Galileo’s theory. His contributions of modern society has also greatly impacted and influenced scientific research. Galileo’s use of mathematics and his improvement to the telescopes has helped science advance in discovering new methods of prove new theories and helped astronomers understand the