Galileo Di Vincenzo Bonaiuti De’ Galilei
Galileo, the Italian engineer, astronomer, and physicist, definitely contributed a lot to how our world looks today, as he struggled to find better ways of understanding the universe. His curiosity to discover new things led to him breaking a few rules, for the sake of science, of course.
Galileo is known as the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, and one of the most prominent figures in scientific observation. As a champion of Copernican heliocentrism, a theory that proved the fact that our planet is rotating every day and revolving around the sun definitely upset the Catholic Church back in the day.
Why? Because this theory proved that there is a lot of misinformation in the Bible, which was definitely in opposition to the Catholic point of view. Even though Copernicus was not rejected by the Church, they still believed that the theory was foolish and absurd, and even accused Galileo of not providing enough evidence.
However, the Roman Inquisition took the matter into their own hands and investigated Galileo’s research, stating that this theory was heretical mainly because it contradicted the Holy Scripture. Therefore, Galileo was forced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest.
Even so, it’s fair to say that it was worth it since his work contributed to the development of modern physics, astronomy, and scientific observation.
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