When it comes to Galileo, the first thing to remember is the Inquisition, the trial of the scientist associated with his adherence to the heliocentric system, the famous phrase: “And yet it turns!”. But the development of N. Copernicus's theory is not the only merit of G. Galileo.
It would take a whole book to tell in detail about everything that the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei has enriched science with. He showed himself in mathematics, and in astronomy, and in mechanics, and in physics, and in philosophy.
The main merit of G. Galileo to astronomy lies not even in his discoveries, but in the fact that he gave this science a working instrument - a telescope. Some historians (in particular, N. Budur) call G. Galileo a plagiarist who appropriated the invention of the Dutchman I. Lippershney. The accusation is unfair: G. Galileo knew about the Dutch "magic pipe" only from a letter from the Venetian envoy, who did not report on the design of the device.
G. Galileo himself guessed about the structure of the pipe and designed it. In addition, the tube of I. Lippershney gave a threefold increase, which was not enough for astronomical observations. G. Galileo managed to achieve an increase of 34.6 times. With such a telescope, celestial bodies could be observed.
With the help of his invention, the astronomer saw spots on the Sun and, from their motion, guessed that the Sun was rotating. He observed the phases of Venus, saw the mountains on the moon and their shadows, by which he calculated the height of the mountains.
Galileo's trumpet made it possible to see the four largest satellites of Jupiter. G. Galileo named them the Medici stars in honor of his patron Ferdinand de Medici, Duke of Tuscany. Subsequently, they were given other names: Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa. The significance of this discovery for the era of G. Galileo can hardly be overestimated. There was a struggle between the supporters of geocentrism and heliocentrism. The discovery of celestial bodies revolving not around the Earth, but around another object, was a serious argument in favor of Copernicus' theory.
Physics in the modern sense begins with the works of G. Galileo. He is the founder of the scientific method that combines experiment and its rational understanding.
This is how he studied, for example, the free fall of bodies. The researcher found that body weight does not affect its free fall. Along with the laws of free fall, he discovered the movements of a body along an inclined plane, inertia, a constant period of oscillations, and the addition of movements. Many ideas of G. Galileo were later developed by I. Newton.
In mathematics, the scientist made a significant contribution to the development of probability theory, and also laid the foundations of set theory, formulating the "Galileo paradox": there are as many natural numbers as there are squares, although most of the numbers are not squares.
The telescope is not the only device designed by G. Galileo.
This scientist created the first thermometer, however, without a scale, as well as a hydrostatic balance. The proportional compass, invented by G. Galileo, is still used in the drawing business. Designed by G. Galileo and a microscope. He did not give a large increase, but he was suitable for studying insects.
The influence exerted by Galileo's discoveries on the further development of science was truly fateful. And A. Einstein was right, calling G. Galileo "the father of modern science."