Galileo went to Florence in search of more opportunities to satisfy his genius, ignoring all the pleasures of Padua. In 1609, the telescope arrived in Italy. There is no documentation about the invention of the telescope. Galileo had heard about this invention and was really interested in it. The news of the invention was spreading like wildfire and it was being perceived as a possible military weapon. Around April 1609, telescopes of inferior quality were on sale in Paris, which may be called purely optical toys. At this point in time, Galileo learned that there was one actual telescope in Padua, and managed to know the details. With the basic information and his knowledge of physics, he started to make telescopes. After initial failures, he went on to make far advanced telescopes of the time and the Senate agreed that Galileo would make them a high-quality telescope. He started his work by making lenses. There were a lot of problems ranging from availability of lenses to spherical and chromatic aberrations etc, but he overcame those and by August he made a telescope. On 21st August, amidst the praise of the Senate, he revealed his invention.
He earned a reputed Governmental post and a secure life but went on to add more sophistication to his telescope. Many renowned people started to buy telescopes from him. He soon became interested in astronomy. He fundamentally thought about two astronomical questions; he wanted to know if the Earth moved in the sky and soon with mathematical proofs he started that Copernicus’ idea could be correct. Suddenly a second event happened as a star called Nova appeared in the October sky. Everyone asked Galileo questions about it. Aristotelians believed the event as a meteorological event and the learned of the time believed it. However, Galileo found with the help of his telescope that there were loopholes everywhere in such astronomical theories. He decided to write his observations and published a book called The Starry Messenger, where he discussed the beauty in the night sky. He said the surface of the moon is roughly opposed to the idea of Aristotelians. He also showed the relevant positions of the Sun and Moon.
All the criticism was stopped by the practical showing of the Moon by him. Next, he looked for Milky Way. He proved that it is made of millions of stars and also proved that the Astronomical theories of Greeks needed real up-gradation. Another important aspect was that he discovered the ring of Jupiter and also the four satellites of it. It was pro-Copernican and argued that the Earth moved in space and also the Moon (Ronan 1974).
Galileo challenged the belief that Earth is the center of the solar system. He was treated as a great cosmologist and the book was a best seller. Kepler wrote a pamphlet called A Discussion with the Starry Messenger and also made a telescope more advanced than those made by Galileo. Their publications stirred telescope building over the next few decades and for the very first time, Aristotle’s work was proved wrong. Galileo then went on to make one of his observations public which influenced his later life strongly.
- Why he left Padua?
The essence of genius lies in the fact of not satisfying with what he has, and to satisfy it and explore newer avenues he left Padua.
- Why telescope suddenly gained popularity?
Actually, it was a new invention and the aristocratic people may be thought of it as a status symbol.
- Why Aristotle’s observations started to lose their importance?
Galileo showed everybody his observations practically and had a more strong point as this practical approach, so the age-old Greek astronomical theories became back-dated.
Reference
Ronan, C., 1974. Galileo, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.