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Known for
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Making a number of important astronomical discoveries, including the four moons of Jupiter, sunspots, and the myriad of stars that compose the Milky Way
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Proposing that falling bodies would all fall at the same rate, regardless of mass, if there were no air resistance
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Milestones
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1589 Taught mathematics at the University of Pisa
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1592 Taught mathematics at the University of Padua
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1609 Reinvented the telescope based on hearsay of such a device's existence in Holland
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1610 Studied the heavens with his telescope, and discovered mountains on the Moon, thousands of stars too faint to be seen unaided, the phases of Venus, and other important astronomical findings
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1610 Published several of his astronomical findings in Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger)
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1610 Accepted a position as mathematician and philosopher to the Grand Duke of Tuscany
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1632 Published a defense of the Copernican heliocentric (sun-centered) universe
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1633 The Roman Catholic Church forced Galileo to recant his support of the Copernican system, and placed him under lifelong house arrest.
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Did You Know
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Galileo died in 1642, while under house arrest imposed upon him by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1992, the Church acknowledged that its condemnation of Galileo was a mistake.
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Galileo helped develop the scientific method by using experimentation to test physical theories.
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Galileo constructed the first thermometer.
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