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
