Galileo Scientist, Scholar, Rebel Essay - 1708 Words

Seventeenth-century European study was controlled by two powerful forces: the Roman Catholic Church, headed by the Pope, and ancient philosophy dominated by the 2000-year-old ideas of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. The Church had an overwhelming influence on the lives of most Europeans. During Galileo’s time one in twelve people living in Rome was either a cleric or a nun.1 The Church forbid any teaching that deviated from what was taught in the Bible. To enforce this control, the Church set up the Inquisition. Galileo was targeted by the Inquisition for his observations and experiments. 2 Because his teachings differed from the socially accepted ideas of Aristotle, the Inquisition believed he should be persecuted. Even though†¦show more content†¦Galileo found that after publishing this, a small physics book, he acquired a reputation as an astounding mathematician with profound unconventional views on scientific wisdom.11 In 1589 the college dropout found a job at the University of Pisa thanks to the help of his rich friends.12 Galileo taught his classes by experimentation, and found many of Aristotle’s theories to be incorrect. Galileo discovered that Aristotle’s predictions on motion were wrong and wrote a pamphlet that criticized Aristotle’s view. Although the pamphlet had ideas that are still respected today, it did not win the support of the university, and eventually, when Galileo’s contract expired the university did not renew it. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; In 1592 Galileo returned home to find work.13 He secured a teaching position at the University of Padua. The following year his family found themselves in financial distress. Galileo’s father died, leaving Galileo in need of an alternate sources of income. Galileo focused his spare time on inventing the military compass. The invention of the military compass helped boost his reputation and became a source of much needed income.Show MoreRelatedAge Of Reason And The Scientific Revolution1089 Words   |  5 Pagescan be categorized into two different time periods. First, was the Scientific Revolution when many scholars created new ways of thinking about the natural world. The Scientific Revolution ended around the late 1600s. Although this time period was over, common ideas spread to the next period. The second time period in the Age of Reason was the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was when scholars and philosophers started to reevaluate old aspe cts of society and how it functions. The Age of ReasonRead MoreCosmology in Miltons Paradise Lost2810 Words   |  12 Pagescosmologists stressed the unified, organic character of the cosmos, ruled by a world soul and bound together by astrological forces and the macrocosm-microcosm relationship. In an important continuation of early medieval thought, twelfth-century scholars described a cosmos that was fundamentally homogeneous, composed of the same elements from top to bottom: Aristotles quintessence or aether and his radical dichotomy between the celestial and terrestrial regions had not yet made their presence feltRead MoreHerbert Spencer Essay13142 Words   |  53 PagesEnglish philosopher, scientist, engineer, and political economist. In his day his works were important in popularizing the concept of evolution and played an important part in the development of economics, political science, biology, and philosophy. Herbert Spencer was born in Derby on April 27, 1820. His childhood, described in An Autobiography (1904), reflected the attitudes of a family which was known on both sides to include religious nonconformists, social critics, and rebels. His father, a teacher