Galileo's Background
Born on February 15, 1564, in Pisa, Italy, Galileo Galilei was a mathematics professor who made observations of nature with everlasting conclusions for the study of physics. He also composed a high-tech telescope with which he discovered many things in outer space, and supported the Copernican theory, which was a theory discovered by Nicolaus Copernicus that supported a sun-centered solar system, rather than a geocentric universe which is what the Catholic Church believed our solar system was based on. Galileo was accused twice of heresy by the church for his beliefs, and wrote many books on his ideas. He died in Arcetri, Italy, on January 8, 1642.