I like Galileo. He’s one of the greatest scientists of all time. As most of us know, he was an Italian astronomer, among many other things. Galileo Galilei.
He died on this date, January 8, 1642. In Italy, the same country where he was born. He was 77 at the time of death, which was pretty dang old for that time in history—born February 15, 1564.
This good guy, Galileo, has been called the “father of modern astronomy,” the “father of modern physics,” and the “father of science.” His discoveries were revolutionary.
For a long time, the world believed what Aristotle had said about science and motion. But. Galileo saw things differently. He used direct observation and experimentation, along with mathematics, to show that many of Aristotle’s ideas on motion were wrong. Aristotle’s theories have endured more than 1,900 years.
Galileo conducted some great experiments. In one of those, he dropped objects of different weights off of someplace tall. Perhaps it was from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but there is no documentation about the location. He found that the speed a heavy object falls is not proportionate to its weight. As such, he wrote the law of falling bodies.
His contradictions of Aristotle weren’t very popular among his colleagues. But it got worse. After Galileo published his confirmation that the Earth orbits the Sun, he was charged with heresies. Galileo’s testimony supported the Copernican system.
All of this led to an inquisition by the church. He was found guilty in 1633 and sentenced to life imprisonment. But. Because of his age and poor health, he was allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest.
Here’s something that most people don’t know for all you astrology fans. Galileo taught his students how to cast horoscopes. Most people don’t believe in astrology. But plenty of people do. Around 80 million Americans read their horoscopes every day. That’s one in four of us.
In Galileo’s time, astrology was only beginning to disentangle from astronomy. And here is another thing. Galileo wasn’t rich. So, as a professor, he was more in demand for teaching all about horoscopes. It was in his stars, I suppose.
For the record, Galileo was an Aquarius. People born under the Aquarius sign are said to be progressive, independent, intelligent, unique, and idealistic. Now that sounds just like this incredibly thinking man. The elemental sign of Aquarius is air. And just like air, Aquarians don’t have a single, precise shape and seem to defy categorization. Sounds like Galileo too.
Regardless. One thing is for sure about Galileo. He looked up toward those stars. Through astronomy and astrology. He looked at the world all around him. And by noticing and thinking about what he noticed, he came up with some of the most significant scientific findings in all of history.
It is a good thing for us to think about. Noticing. Reasoning. Truly looking at the world around us. And when we do, we find moments of wisdom and light.
Like in the stars.
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“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
― Albert Einstein
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“Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.”
― Voltaire
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“Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits…”
― A.A. Milne
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GG. What a guy. In the age of Aquarius, it seems.
