Galileo Galilei. Engraving of Galileo Galilei(1564-1642), Italian astronomer and physicist. In1610 he became the first person to use a telescopefor astronomical studies. He discovered mountainson the Moon and the four largest moons of Jupiter.He found that all the swings of a pendulum havethe same time period. He showed that heavy andlight objects fall at the same rate. He supportedthe Copernican theory that the Sun was at thecentre of the solar system rather than the Earth.This belief was judged heretical by theInquisition in 1633 and he was held under housearrest for the rest of his life. Engravingpublished between 1833-1837.
