Galileo Galilei Lectures at Padua

On this date in 1592, Galileo Galilei gave his inaugural lecture at the University of Padua (the university of the Republic of Venice). Despite his lack of a degree, he had tutored privately for a while until he became professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589. Contradicting Aristotle was considered almost a heresy by many at the time, and he was not invited back to the university in 1592, leading to his appointment as chair of mathematics at the University of Padua. He remained there until 1610.

• Legend has it that while teaching at the University of Pisa, Galileo demonstrated to his students that Aristotle was wrong about speed of fall being related to the weight of an object by dropping two items off the leaning tower.
  
• Galileo also led a (somewhat) normal (for the times) homelife. He was a loving father.
  
• “And yet ... it moves.” Allegedly said by Galileo after signing a recantation of the Copernican theory that the sun was the center of the solar system, and accepting the church’s claim that the Earth was unmoving. Read more quotes from and about Galileo.
  
• Forum Post of the Day:
  
  Subject: Why was Galileo convicted?
  "Greetings! I homeschool my two young boys (ages 8and 9) and we are starting a unit on the history of space exploration. We read a wonderful book about Galileo and read more on him in an encyclopedia. We realized we needed to learn about Copernicus who influenced his thinking. We are very surprised that Copernicus was not tried for heresy as Galileo was. After all, it was Copernicus who started the idea of the earth not being the center of the universe. He is a bit earlier than Galileo so, it seems reasonable to assume that his idea would have been very radical. Our question is this, why was Galileo tried for heresy for claiming the same 'new' idea that Copernicus had 50 years earlier. Did Copernicus face any repercussions for his beliefs? Thanks to anyone who can give us some insight."
  Jcrisafio
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* Spotlight: Colonel Ilan Ramon flew aboard STS-107 (space shuttle Columbia) and logged 15 days, 22 hours and 20 minutes in space. The STS-107 mission ended abruptly on February 1, 2003 when Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew perished during entry, 16 minutes before scheduled landing.