Galileo Galilei - A Misunderstood Renaissance Man

No one wants to ponder about this character, nowadays. Students of world history may be coming across him in cursory class sessions. All are with the momentum of modern living. There are few who would like to stop in their tracks and ponder over such extraordinary talents from history who deserve a re-discovery. One of these remarkable lives was that of Galileo Galilei. He was born in the sixteenth century and lived into the seventeenth. He was much more than just a mathematician. He explored many interests during his lifetime, ranging from being a scientist to being a music aficionado. There was hardly any subject that he did not know about up to his time. You may call him a philosopher, an engineer, a mathematician, an astronomer or a physicist. He was a genuine Renaissance man or a polymath. He played a considerable role in the scientific revolution which was brewing during his lifetime. His discoveries and his philosophy on astronomy came under attack, later on in his life. He stirred up controversies which involved everyone. His contemporaries, scholars and close friends and the clergy all went out of their way to stifle that which he held as his truth. However, they do not matter as Galileo changed the world we live in by ways others could not. His arguments and controversies considering the problems of his age brought him to the centre stage of attraction, even if they came into conflict with the culture of those times. All his statements had to be addressed to, for they could no longer be ignored or denied. This is the main reason why his name is still mentioned, today – five hundred years later. A Representative of the Italian Renaissance As per Ralph Waldo Emerson, Galileo was great but highly misunderstood. In Europe, the Renaissance movement occurred between the fourteenth and the seventeenth centuries. It was a bridge on which historical events took place, transitioning between medieval times and the Baroque age. It was into this age that Galileo Galilei was born. It was a period of a cultural movement which affected European life greatly. Before this happened, people were controlled and governed by the Catholic Church and life revolved around the doctrines and dogmas of the churches. It was also a period which brought the Black Death or the plague which was spread by rats and fleas. People died in big numbers. It is estimated that almost half of the European population was wiped off on this account. The plague did not spare even the royalty or the clergy. Everyone and everything became vulnerable to the plague. People started picking up their lives once this phase passed. In this time of revival, writers, artists, musicians, philosophers and politicians started expressing themselves with a fervour which was missing for a great while in the past in this humanist period. The works of art were now being created with intense emotion. The artists found that they had to display man and project him and his works in complete human glory. This period brought a renewal of thoughts and ideas from ancient Greeks and Romans to let people develop new ways of understanding their place in the world. Europe went through a cultural revolution. Besides Galileo, this was the age that saw the emergence of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante, Raphael, Shakespeare, Thomas More, the Medicis and Francis Bacon. It was the age of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I. People across Europe, particularly Russia, were commissioning artists for new buildings, churches, museums and palaces. In Italy, the movement flourished in Milan and Florence. Ideas spread like wildfire from these cities. People were now taking interest in how to read and write well and how to project their emotions and feelings and how they could put their innate talents to use. Galileo was born in 1564, a year in which William Shakespeare was also born and Michelangelo died. Early Life At the age of eighty-seven, Galileo had mentioned to his peers that he was “still learning”. Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, in the duchy of Florence, Italy on 15th February, 1564. He was the eldest of six children to his parents. Three of his siblings survived infancy. Infant mortality was quite high, in those days. His ancestors were rich in terms of wealth, culture and humanism. His father was a music composer and theorist; he played the lute. His brother also became a famous music composer during the Renaissance period in music history. Galileo showed an inclination towards experimentation and mathematics. At the age of eight, his family moved to Florence from Pisa and this shift had a big impact on his early life. He found the city culturally very impressive. He got his formal education at the Camaldolese Monastery in Vallombrosa. His father insisted on a university education to avoid the chances of Galileo choosing priesthood. Galileo had started thinking about becoming a monk but dropped the idea in his late teens. He joined the University of Pisa to study medicine. He lost his interest in medicine soon and became fascinated with natural philosophy and mathematics. While studying at Pisa, Galileo became familiar with Aristotle and his view of the world changed. He was impressed by philosophy that relied on deductive reasoning. He began to study mathematics with Filippo Fantoni who was head of the Mathematics Department at the university. He studied Archimedes and Euclid. Inherent Qualities of a Master Galileo once said, “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” He began teaching mathematics in Florence in 1585. Then, he moved on to Siena and found a job. He also taught at Vallombrosa. He invented a thermoscope here and this instrument was the predecessor of the thermometer. He wrote his first scientific book here, `The Little Balance’ and got it published. This treatise was all about the design of a hydrostatic balance that he had invented. Hydrostatics is actually a branch of fluid mechanics and it deals with incompressible fluids that are at rest. Galileo started studying disegno; in those days, it was a term that covered all fine arts. He was inspired by the Renaissance artists to do that. After he completed his studies, he became an instructor in the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. He taught perspective and chiaroscuro, a technique in the field of oil paintings, which was developed during his time. This technique uses deep contrasts between dark and light and paintings often look three dimensional because of this effect. In 1589, he filled an opening in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pisa. He stayed there for three years and wrote a series of essays that were called `De Motu’. These essays dealt with the theory of motion. One of the main ideas in these essays was that theories could be tested about falling bodies by using an inclined plane to slow down the rate of descent. During this period, his father, Vincenzo, died in 1591. The responsibility of providing for his younger sisters and a younger brother fell on him. He looked out for a higher paying university position. He shifted to University of Padua in Venezia and settled down there. He remained here for the next eighteen years. This was perhaps the happiest time of his life. He taught Euclid’s geometry mostly. During this period, he made some crucial discoveries and came across new findings in fundamental science that included kinematics of motion and astronomy along with practical applied sciences. He designed telescope here and also started studying astrology. His keen interest in mathematics led him to explore the beauty of the heavens and helped him bring light to ancient controversies. The Galilean Moons “Science would not be what it is if there had not been a Galileo… the world as we know it is the product of his genius,” said Norman Robert Campbell. Galileo was a pious Roman Catholic but with a woman named Marina Gamba; he fathered three children that were born out of wedlock. By May of 1609, Galileo developed a new series of telescopes, purely out of his mathematical skills and his passion for craftsmanship. These designs brought a new dimension to astronomical science. To increase the magnification of the lenses, Galileo learnt how to grind his lenses and the people who benefited most out of his creations were the sailors. The whole world was impressed with his innovations. Through the telescopes he made, people could look through them and see upright and magnified images on land. At the same time, they were able to see the objects in the skies, above. Galileo explored further and realised that telescopes were meant for more significant things than the concept of scanning the horizons on earth. He began turning his attention to the night sky. Galileo, the mathematician, was slowly metamorphosing into a scientist. In his famous work, `Sidereus Nuncius’, meaning the starry messenger, he started mentioning the moon not only of Earth but the four moons that were orbiting the Jupiter planet. He was the first to point out that the Earth’s moon was not at all smooth and that there were several craters to be found there, along with mountains. He started challenging the Aristotelian views that everything above the Earth was incorruptible and perfect. Galileo also became the first one to observe the line that separated the lunar day from night and named it as the terminator. He arrived at a conclusion that the darker regions of the moon were low-lying flat areas and the brighter regions were mountainous and rough. He happened to judge correctly that the mountains on the moon were about four miles high. He showed to the world that with his telescope; people could see ten times more objects in the sky than what was available to see with the naked eye. He published star charts of the Orion belt and of the Pleiades that is a small star cluster. He also reported that he had discovered four objects, when seen through the telescope he had invented, went on to form a straight line of stars near planet Jupiter. He also noted that these bodies changed their positions from January through March in 1610 in relation to Jupiter’s position, but they always remained in a straight line. The conclusion drawn was that these objects were orbiting Jupiter, which is the largest planet in the Solar System. He called these moons the Medician Stars, naming them after the four royal Medici brothers. Today, the moons of Jupiter are referred to always as Galilean moons. Some have named them individually as Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Changing the Views of the World Galileo Galilei once said, “In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” Once Galileo’s treatise in the book `The Starry Messenger’ was published, he became a celebrity in Rome in 1611. The Collegio Romano gave great banquets in his honour and he was made a member of the Academia dei Lincei. Galileo was quite pleased with this distinction. People were fascinated with his theory about the four moons of Jupiter. He was able to establish the orbital periods for these four moons after making observations through his telescope. He struggled to make precise calculations. He was not able to identify which moon was which. In the following year, he was able to provide accurate periods of each moon cycle of Jupiter. One of his contemporaries was Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer and scientist. Kepler inspired Galileo to turn his attention to Planet Saturn. At first glance, Galileo thought that the planet looked like three bodies as his telescope was not strong enough to show the planet’s rings. They appeared to him as separate globes that were circling round. He was puzzled. He also observed through his telescope that the planet Venus showed phases like those of the Earth’s moon. He concluded that the planet may be orbiting the Sun and not the Earth. During Galileo’s days, most astronomers believed in a system that was initiated by a Danish astronomer by the name of Tycho Brahe who surmised that everything apart from the Earth and the Moon went round the Sun and the Sun orbited the Earth. Another way of looking at the heavens was the system of Nicolaus Copernicus who said that all bodies of planets orbited the Sun. Copernicus was born almost a generation before Galileo. He wrote `On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres’ and it was published in 1543, the year of his death. His theory was not backed and eventually was ignored. Galileo did not have sufficient proof to challenge the traditional opinion. He conducted experiments at the Tower of Pisa and refuted the ancient Aristotelian idea that heavier objects fell faster than the lighter ones. During his experiment, he dropped a couple of spheres of different weight and observed as they hit the ground at the same time. During those days, majority of the people in the world believed that the Earth was stationary and that it did not move. Galileo tried to prove with his `falling bodies’ theory that this was not the case. Opposition to the Church Observing the skies had been going on since time immemorial. A Greek scientist, Ptolemy, from Alexandria, Egypt in the second century after Christ had concluded that there was a geocentric theory concerning the heavens. He put forth a theory that the sun and the heavenly bodies rotated around the earth. Copernicus had mentioned that the sun was the centre of all and he developed the heliocentric system. Then, Galileo gave his observations on the planet Venus and concluded that the Ptolemaic system would have to go into the shadows. Most astronomers were slowly converting to the Copernican system when observing the heavens. In 1612, Galileo made another discovery – the planet Neptune. At first, it was a dim and unremarkable star to him. Later, he took note of the planet’s motion in relation to the stars. He published his findings in `Discourse on Floating Bodies’ which he released in the same year. In the following year, he published `Letters on the Sunspots’. Galileo started to get fascinated with the Milky Way Galaxy. Other scientists did not know what to make of it. Galileo recognised that the Milky Way was a myriad of stars that was packed together very tightly and that made them look like clouds when being observed from the Earth. Galileo was the first astronomer who could actually tell the difference between the stars and the planets. He described the stars as blazes of light and the planets as discs. He was able to approximately measure the size of stars without the help of a telescope. It has to be kept in our minds that the Vatican ran all things in Europe in the early seventeenth century. The Reformation was fast approaching and Catholic Church’s prominent figure, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, ignored Galileo and opposed his theories. Galileo’s theories struck a raw nerve of the Church and they attacked him by saying that he was attempting to reinterpret the Holy Bible. His theories contradicted what was mentioned in the Old Testament such as “this world is firmly established and that it cannot be moved.” Ecclesiastes 1:5 stated that ‘the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.” The Church called the astronomers absurd and foolish to bring forth their opposing theories. Galileo’s theories were considered controversial. In 1618, three comets came into sight. Galileo became involved in their appearance. He thought that they were close to Earth but that assumption was incorrect as that feeling was caused by optical refraction and the change in light waves as a result of a change in their transmission. As Galileo started arguing, he started antagonising the Jesuits. Galileo’s stand was publicised by Father Grassi in a pamphlet called `Discourse on the Comets: An Astronomical Disputation on the Three Comets of the Year 1618’. These events led to Galileo publishing his next work, `The Assayer’ in which he kept on stating against Father Grassi. As his arguments did not create an impact in the society, he decided that he would stay away from further controversies. During this period, his health declined. The Trial of Galileo Galilei In 1624, Galileo wrote a book, `Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems’. He published it in Florence. In that, he mentioned, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” In the 1630s, Galileo Galilei was busy facing the wrath of the powers that were, in Rome. He was ostracised for trying to stay on the side of what he knew to be correct thinking about the cosmos. Johannes Kepler had also called the tides theory of Galileo as false. Plenty of negative opinion spread about Galileo after his publication of `Dialogue’. Pope Urban got outraged at one point and summoned Galileo to stand trial in Rome. This Inquisition eventually banned the sale of his book. He was being tried for advocating a new world view concerning helio-centrism. To make matters worse, Galileo had turned seventy and was not keeping good health. The proceedings of his trial were conducted by the Congregation of the Holy Office which went on to be called the Roman Inquisition. Ten cardinals, who were appointed by the Pope, presided over the trial. It was their task to safeguard the Catholic dogma and to prevent any attacks against it. During the trial, Galileo was not put in prison but was allowed to stay in the Villa Medici, at the Tuscan Ambassador’s residence in Rome. The trial was completed on 10th July in 1633. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine came to the rescue of Galileo. The trial ordered Galileo to be punished by praying the seven penitential Psalms – 6, 32, 38, 51,102,130 and 143. The other punishment he got was by nature when his eldest daughter who was only thirty-three years of age, died. Galileo did not resume work for many many months. When Galileo started to write again, he started on a project that was known as `Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning the Two New Sciences’. This project that eventually turned into a book was one of his finest works. This work was actually published in the Netherlands. After the publication of this work, many scholars held an opinion that Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo did not solve old problems but they asked new questions; and in doing so, they changed the whole basis on which the old questions had been framed. The two new sciences that Galileo wrote on were the strength of materials and kinematics. He also wrote on the subject of impetus and the centre of gravity. Einstein referred to Galileo as the `father of modern physics’. In 1638, Galileo started suffering from insomnia and hernia. He went to Florence to take medical advice. He also started suffering from heavy palpitation. At the age of seventy-seven, Galileo died in January 1642. The Grand Duke of Tuscany wanted Galileo to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce but Pope Urban reminded him that Galileo was condemned by the Catholic Church for heresy. So, Galileo was buried in Novices’ Chapel. The Inquisition’s ban on the reprinting of Galileo’s works was eventually lifted in 1718 and his books got published in Florence. In 1939, Pope Pius XII described Galileo as among the audacious heroes of research’. In October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed deep regret for how Galileo was treated during his life and in the last three centuries. He acknowledged the errors that were committed by the Catholic Church tribunal that had judged the scientific positions which were held by Galileo. He blamed the Pontifical Council for Culture. The Legacy of Galileo Galileo once wrote, “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” Whether people and scientists acknowledge it or not, Galileo Galilei was one of the most important founders of modern science. Galileo could be described as being among an esteemed group of scientists who could not live comfortably in the status quo; a group that included Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton. Among all these mentioned here, Galileo deserves a place above all others. Stephen Hawking also acknowledged that Galileo carries more responsibility than anyone else in science and Einstein called him the father of modern science. Not to be underestimated is the very fact that Galileo was the one who invented the telescope in 1609. He had the uncanny ability to turn his eyes to the night sky and see things that other found it difficult to observe. His observations were formulated carefully and with passage of time; most of his theories have been proven correct. Most of the theories that have been established are mostly the work and thinking of Galileo. He could see through his telescope that what had been followed as gospel truth by the Church for centuries was not true when we looked at the heavens, above. He tried to tell the world in his book `Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems’, he was charged with heresy and had to go through a trial. Unfortunately, it would take centuries for the Catholic Church and the world to come to its senses. It was Pope John Paul II who brought the reality out and rehabilitated Galileo between 1979 and 1992. He made it possible for people to think that it was Galileo who made it possible for the world to think for itself. Galileo’s voice became one for individual freedom. He was an extra-ordinary personality who lived in the age of the Renaissance. He had the guts to speak the truth no matter what people thought of him or what the consequences would be when he spoke or wrote. Despite his trial and condemnation by the Catholic Church, Galileo has remained a fascinating person. He was a genius in his scientific findings and contributed much to the study of astronomy. He brought the distinction between astrology and astronomy. He understood that the Earth moved and always maintained his philosophy to the chagrin of the Church and the powers to be of that age. He became aware that the Earth was not the centre of the universe as the Church had been preaching for centuries. He continued to stand up for his belief even in the face of imprisonment and death. He stands exonerated today. Galileo correctly identified the four moons of Jupiter – Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. When NASA sent a space mission to Jupiter in 1990, they called it `Galileo’ in honour of this great scientist.