BIOGRAPHY REPORT:

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei is an Italian astronomer , physicist , philosopher , and mathematician . He ranks with Archimedes , Newton , and Einstein as one of the greatest scientists of all time . His discoveries , made with the crudest of equipment , were brilliant examples of scientific deduction Galileo 's studies of natural laws laid the groundwork for the experimental scientists who followed him . Galileo constructed the first telescope used for astronomical observations the observations he made supported Copernicus ' theory that the sun is the center of the solar system . In physics , Galileo discovered the principles of

motion followed by swinging pendulums , falling bodies , and flying projectiles . Galileo used his heartbeat to time the period of a pendulum . He realized that a pendulum could be used as a standard of time for a clock . Pendulum clocks are still sold today , more than three hundred years after their invention . Moreover , changing from the study of medicine to that mathematics and natural science , Galileo conducted experiments on gravity that brought him to public attention . In 1589 , he became a lecturer on mathematics at the University of Pisa , and began his studies of falling bodies . According to legend , he dropped objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to prove his theory that bodies fall at the same speed and with the same acceleration regardless of their weight and size . He also demonstrated that projectiles follow a parabolic path These discoveries were contrary to the teachings of the ancient Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle , many of whose ideas had for...