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Galileo's Conclusion As a nineteen-year-old in the Italian city of Pisa, Galileo Galilei observed a priest swinging an altar lamp. No matter how wide the swing of the lamp, it seemed the time it took to move from one end to the other was the same. Galileo had discovered what scientists today call isochronism, and his observations led to the development of the pendulum clock. Like Aristotle |
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Isaac Newton and Gravity |
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and Copernicus, Galileo learned from observing and measuring what he saw. Galileo heard stories of a device that used curved pieces of glass to magnify distant objects. He was unable to find the device we now call a telescope, so he made one for himself. When Galileo observed the heavens, he noticed that several moons orbited Jupiter. This disproved the theory that every heavenly body had to revolve around the earth. In 1616 the church commanded that Galileo never again "defend or hold" the idea of a heliocentric universe. Sixteen years later, Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for life because of what he taught.