10 curious facts about Galileo Galilei

1. Is there a reason why your first name is so similar to your last name?

In fact, it is super simple. What happens is that in Tuscany - Galileo's birthplace, which was born in Pisa - it was common to give the firstborn a name based on the family name (Galilei).

2. He taught the horoscope to his students.

It may be strange to think of the father of modern science debating astrology; but by the time of Galileo astrology was still beginning to be seen as something separate from astronomy. Not to mention the financial issue: a teacher capable of teaching astrology was a differential that attracted several students.

3. He didn't invent the telescope

What Galileo did was buy the object and improve the design and functionality of the telescope, increasing its magnifying power. Although there are some claims of the invention out there, it is not known for sure who created the instrument.

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4. Galileo could have been an artist

The scientist was a master of perspective - a skill that would surely help a lot in his artistic career - and his Moon drawings are really very good and show a lot of technique.

5. He wrote about relativity

He did not write in exactly the same way as Einstein, nor did he go deep into it. But Galileo already understood very well that movement is relative, so his perception of movement has to do with his own movement. Two hundred and fifty years later, these ideas would be a basis for young Einstein to delve into his now-well-known theory of relativity.

6. He was never married, but not lonely either

Galileo never married because in his day it was traditional for scholars to remain single. But even so, he had a very close relationship with a woman from Venice, and together they had three children.

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7. You can listen to songs composed by Galileo's father

Vincenzo Galilei was a musician and music teacher, and many of his compositions have survived to this day and can be found on CD.

8. Your findings may have influenced a scene from a Shakespeare play.

Shakespeare and Galileo were born in the same year (1564), and although Shakespeare died 26 years before the scientist, he still had time to write in one of his last plays a reference to one of Galileo's greatest discoveries: the four moons circling Jupiter.

In the final act of the Cimbelino play, the god Jupiter descends from the heavens with four spirits dancing around him. It may have been a mere coincidence, but it could also have been an inspiration.

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9. The tomb you are in today is not the original.

Because of the charge of heresy, when Galileo died in 1642, the Vatican did not allow his remains to be buried with those of his relatives. A century later, when his situation with the Church had improved, he was relocated to his present location in the chancel of the Santa Cruz Basilica in Florence.

10. Perhaps Galileo would not be very pleased with the Vatican's "apologies" in 1992

In 1992, Pope John Paul II wrote an official statement admitting the error in the persecution of Galileo. But the statement blamed the consultants and officials who worked on Galileo's case, not Pope Urban VIII himself, who presided over the trial. The charge of heresy was not dropped either.