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Feb 15, 1564
Birth Date
Galileo Galilei was born on this date to parents Giulia di Cosimo Ammannati, and Vincenzo Galilei in Pisa, Italy. He was the first of six children in his family. Galileo's family was of the nobility but he was not rich. He was From an early age he sowed interest in fixing and making small toys. His father was a composer,lutenist, and music theorist. His mother had no occupation so she depended on Galileo to help her. He would become known as the father of modern astronomy.(biography.com) -
Jan 1, 1577
Sir Francis Drake chosen by Queen Elizabeth to find a passage through America to the Pacific Ocean
In 1577 Queen Elizabeth the second wanted Sir Francis Drake to find a passage way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean or the Northwest Passage. He eventually traveled down the eastern coast of the Americas and through the Straight of Magellan. On his way he acted as a pirate and raided numerous ships to the point where his ship was full of treasure and loot. He went up and down the California Coast Claiming lands for Queen Elizabeth. (Francis Drake) -
Law of the Pendulum
In addition, Galileo is also known for his Law of the Pendulum. Galileo discovered the Law of the Pendulum as he was sitting through a reading of the bible . He used his heartbeat or pulse to realize that with every swing of the chandelier it follows the same path and the period between the swings stays constant. As a result of this law we were able to time our heartbeat and have clock regulation. Also, this law helped us create the first pendulum clock in 1652.(Asimov pg:33). -
Law of Falling Bodies
Galileo found and created the Law of Falling Bodies. This law states that objects of different weights will fall at the exact same speed. At the tower of Pisa, Galileo dropped two objects of different weights as a group of bystanders and witnessed the fall. Proving Aristotle wrong the two objects hit the ground at the exact same time. This is important because it helped determine the rate at which things fall and also the terminal velocity of objects. It also helped us see gravity differently. -
Improved telescope
By accomplishing a way of magnifying the telescope by 30 times it made him believe that Copernicus was right in saying that the Sun, not the Earth , was at the center of the Solar System (Major Accomplishments). People challenged the church because of his proof on the heliocentric theory being correct (Asimov Pg: 33). Not only did this tweak on the telescope spark the Scientific Revolution, it discovered things such as the Moon's features, and Venus's phases(Major Accomplishments). -
Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" was written
Shakespeare is credited with creating hundreds of English words in his plays. He is one of the most well known people on the earth and he wrote plays such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. He is one of the most influential members to the English language and he helped shaped education in giving us his words to use in our speech. He was one of the favorites of the royal family of England and no one knows how he died.(William Shakespeare). -
London company sent ships to Jamestown
The London Company was a joint-stock company whos job was to establish settlements in the new world for James I. The company sent three ships, containing 144 men and boys. The settlement that they would come to form would be the first settlement in the thirteen colonies and would pave the road for numerous wars and the fight for independence from Great Britain. The colony was failing at first until john Smith came and made everyone work to keep the settlement alive.(United States) -
The telescope was invented
On this date Hans Lippershey created the telescope. He created this tool as a way for the people in the towers to look out for enemy ships that would not come into the harbor for another hour. By just magnifying the sight of a person by three times Lippershey was able to create one of the instruments that has gotten us to where we are today in the fields of Physics, mathematics, and military strategy. Without this invention history would be much different than it is today.(@SpaceDotCom) -
Venus's phases discovered
Galileo observed that similarly to our moon Venus had different variations of lighting reflecting off the planet. Galileo is the one to notice that Venus is the first star to be visible before sunset. Galileo helped clear up the misconception that Venus was actually two celestial bodies by saying that it was in fact only one body with different variations of speed and light reflections. This discovery also helped Galileo to figure out that Copernicus was correct in the heliocentric theory(Space) -
Jupiter's satelites discovered
Galileo discovered that Jupiter had over 60 celestial bodies orbiting around the planet . This discovery also helped to shatter the Geocentric theory and enforce the Heliocentric theory because of the way it helped us understand gravitational pulls. These objects wee the first bodies to be fund in our solar system orbiting a planet other than the Earth. Without Galileo Observing these satellites we would not know as much as we do today about our universe and how everything works.(Jupiter) -
Discovery of Sunspots
Galileo amongst others discovered that with the naked eye you could see dark circle shaped dots on the Sun's surface. After Galileo had discovered these spots he showed tem to thousands of people and told them of what his telescope could do. Others thought that the sunspots were satellites of the sun but Galileo found that they were in fact just dark contrasts of colors compared to their surroundings. Because of his discovery we are now able to know more about our solar system.(Galileo Project) -
heliocentric theory support
With the work of the newly improved telescope Galileo was able to prove the Copernicus was in fact correct in believing that the sun and not the Earth was in the middle of the Solar System. Because Galileo believed that Copernicus was correct he was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Because Galileo believed this other people challenged the church in what is called the Scientific Revolution. The church eventually realized they were right and allowed the belief.(Steele Pg.128) -
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Millions of Native americans were killed in the new world
In 1616, before the Pilgrims , an epidemic crippled the New England natives. Historians estimate that the epidemic killed up to 90 percent of the Native American population in New England. When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620 another epidemic of smallpox hit. In 1637 during the Pequot War, Puritan leaders demanded that the Pequot's be killed for murdering English traders. The Puritans set fire to a Pequot village killing almost all of them. -
Placed under house arrest
Galileo used his newly improved telescope to defy the church which led him to being placed under house arrest. Galileo observed and found that the Sun, and not the Earth, was at the center of the solar system. This contradicted the church's beliefs and they took it as a threat to their power and they sent him into house arrest for the rest of his life too try and hide the truth. Although they did this he had already spread his ideas and this sparked the Scientific Revolution.(Steele Pg.37) -
Harvard university was founded
Harvard University founded in Cambridge on this date is one of the most prestigious colleges in the world. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. It was founded after a vote of the General Court in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There are over 360,000 living alumni from over 190 different countries including the United States.(@harvard) -
Galileo's death
Galileo died in Arcetri, near Florence, Italy, on January 8, 1642, after suffering from a fever and heart palpitations. Eventually the church realized that what Galileo had said was actually true. In 1758, the church brought back the ban on most works supporting Nicolaus Copernicus's theory. By 1835 the church ended its repulsion to heliocentric theory altogether.(Galileo)
