Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Alexius Sparkman
Physical Science
February 21, 2018

Abstract Galileo Galilei, an Italian astronomer, natural philosopher, and mathematician that made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion, and astronomy. One of his greatest contributions to science was emphasis on experimentation, basic part of the scientific method (Chapter 1.2). His formulation of inertia and the law of falling bodies marked the beginning of a fundamental change in the study of motion. Galileo questioned Aristotle’s view that objects fell because of their “earthiness” and that the heavier, or more earthy, an object, the faster it would fall in seeking its “natural” place towards the earth.

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During the early 1570s, when Galileo was eight years old, his family moved to Florence and he began his formal education in Vallombrosa Abbey at the Camaldolese Monastery. His father, Vincenzo Galilei, a well known musician, was determined that Galileo would become a doctor and sent him to the University of Pisa in 1581, despite Galileo considering priesthood. There Galileo studied medicine and the philosophy of Aristotle for the next four years. He never seemed to have taken medical studies seriously, attending courses on his true interests which were in mathematics and natural