Galileo Galilei - Michael White

This series of short biographies covers the lives of 24 leading humanitarians, peacemakers and conservationists, all of whom have made a major contribution to the world around them. This book looks at the life of the scientist Galileo Galilei.;Under threat of death or imprisonment, Galileo faced the Inquisition in 1633. He was on trial for his scientific discoveries and investigations. He had discovered that the Earth was not at the centre of the universe as proposed, but that the sun was. With today's understanding of the solar system it is hard to imagine Galileo's situation, but the Roman Catholic Church defended the assertion that everything moved around the Earth and that man was the centre of the universe. This was meant to be accepted in faith, but in the face of science Galileo threw doubt into the minds of Church officials. He was the first scientist to try and separate religion from science. With his telescope, concept of acceleration and free-fall he was the first experimental physicist and he opened a whole new approach to the study of science.