Why Galileo Was A Turning Point In History

There was a time in history when social turmoil was the norm. This was the case in Europe beginning in the seventeenth century. Many issues regarding religion had arisen, the Protestant Reformation had already happened but the conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants continued. People looked to religion for standards to abide by and the clergy were the ones in power. Naturally it formed two opposing entities, which commonly leads to war. This caused the event known as The Thirty Year War, however it ended between nation states. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which was a turning point in history. People started to give recognition and respect to the nation in which they belonged to. Which allowed nations to have sovereignty, they created their own way of ruling and decided on laws. This marked the beginning of government systems. People recognized themselves as a nationality then they recognized themselves with their

Galileo grew up in a traditional family and was raised with the influence of the Catholic religion, he attended a Catholic school while growing up (2). He considered himself a devoted Christian. In school he enjoyed mathematics. Despite his father’s wishes Galileo decided to pursue math and science, after two years of studying medicine at the University of Pisa (3). The knowledge Galileo obtained allowed him to create his own advanced telescope, allowing him to gain access to learning more about the solar system. He spent a lot of time focusing on the movement of planets and recording the patterns of the solar system, with his research he defended Copernicus’s theory that the solar system is heliocentric rather than geocentric. Which means he’s findings disproved the Christian theory of an earth centered system compared to the heliocentric model that puts the sun as the center of the solar