Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer born on February 15, 1564

He was a giant part of the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

He is also known for his design of the modern telescope.

Galileo's telescope
Our modern day telescopes

However, in 1610 he published the book Starry Messenger and it challenged scientific ideas that were already preconceived by the church.

In this book he released his discoveries that the Jupiter has 4 moons, the sun has dark spots and that Earth's moon is rough and uneven. This was a brand new idea to the people, who had been taught their whole lives that the moon was a smooth surface.

His findings shattered Aristotle's beliefs, and he showed support for Copernicus and his own beliefs about the universe.

The church did not like this at all.

Starry Messenger went against the things that the church has already been teaching. They didn't want this new idea to become popular, so they made sure that Galileo kept quiet. In 1610, they warned Galileo not to support Copernicus's ideas, but he continued to study in private.

His continued studies led him to publish the book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, a book that had also really angered the church. Galileo showed his continued support of Copernicus in this book as well. The pope was so incredibly angry at Galileo that he made him kneel in front of him, (under the threat of torture), and recite an oath.

This oath forced Galileo to agree that he believed that the ideas of Copernicus were false. He continued to live as an imprisoned man under house arrest until his death on January 8, 1642


I see this as a very important quote because it addresses the idea that nobody knows everything. That even the smartest of people will always have something to learn. It also shows that even the most ignorant of people can be somebody to learn from. This also resonates with the idea that every human being is equal to one another, even on an intellectual scale.

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