Galileo Galilei
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Timeline
February 18, 1564:
·birth of Galileo Galilei in the Tuscan city of Pisa
1574:
·Galilei family moves to Florence
Summer 1581:
·Galileo enrolls in the University of Pisa to pursue
a degree in medicine
1585:
·Galileo leaves the University of Pisa without having
obtained a degree
Summer 1589:
·Galileo hired as a lecturer in mathematics at the
University of Pisa
1589-1592:
·Galileo teaches in Pisa, and reportedly makes his
famous velocity experiment, dropping objects off the leaning tower
to disprove Aristotle's theory that heavier objects fall faster
than lighter ones
1591:
·Death of Vincenzo Galilei, Galileo's father
Autumn 1592:
·Galileo takes post at the University of Padua
1600:
·Galileo's first daughter, Virginia, born in Padua
1601:
·Galileo's second daughter born
1604:
·Appearance of Kepler's Nova in the sky; Galileo debates
its significance with conservative scholars.
1606:
·Birth of Galileo's third child, a son
Summer 1609:
·News of the invention of the telescope reaches Italy;
Galileo develops his own device in August.
Autumn 1609:
·Galileo makes his first observations using his telescope,
discovers uneven surface of the moon.
January 1610:
·Galileo discovers four moons orbiting Jupiter
March 1610:
·Publication of Sidereus Nuncius, dedicated
to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo II
June 1610:
·Galileo leaves Padua to take a new, more lucrative
position in Tuscany
Spring 1611:
·Galileo travels to Rome, where he is cordially received
by the Jesuit astronomers and Pope Paul V
December 1614:
·Father Tommasso Caccini attacks Galileo in sermon
in Florence, and later denounces him to the Inquisition
December 1615:
·Galileo goes to Rome
March 1615:
·Papal commission issues edict against Copernican theory;
Cardinal Bellarmine orders Galileo to cease in his support of heliocentricity
June 1615:
·Galileo leaves Rome
September 1621:
·Death of Cardinal Bellarmine
June 1623:
·Urban VIII becomes Pope; Galileo visits him in Rome
October 1623:
·Galileo's treatise on comets, The Assayer, is
published with Urban VIII's blessing
1624-1629:
·Galileo works on his Dialogue Concerning the
Two Chief World Systems from his home outside Florence
February 1632:
·
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems published
in Florence, with tentative Papal approval
August 1632:
·Inquisition bans further printing of the Dialogue
September 23, 1632:
·Galileo summoned to Rome
February 13, 1633:
·Galileo arrives in Rome
April 12, 1633:
·Galileo interrogated for the first time. Afterwards,
he is imprisoned in the Vatican for three weeks.
April 30, 1633:
·Galileo interrogated again, and allowed to return
to the home of the Tuscan ambassador
May 10, 1633:
·Third interrogation; Galileo begs for mercy.
June 21, 1633:
·Final interrogation. The following day, Galileo is
officially charged with heresy; he is forced to confess his errors,
renounce the Copernican system, and accept the Church's judgment.
He is sentenced to imprisonment "for a period determinable at
our pleasure."
December 1633:
·Galileo is allowed to return to the village of Arcetri,
outside Florence, where he lives under house arrest
April 2, 1634:
·Death of Virginia, now Sister Maria Celeste.
1637:
·Galileo's eyesight begins to fail.
1638:
·Galileo's Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences is
published in Holland. John Milton visits Galileo in Arcetri.
January 8, 1642:
·Death of Galileo
