Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

2 results

  • 3 - Galileo and the Nature of the Physical Sciences

  • from Case Study I - The Origins of Newton’s Laws of Motion and of Gravity
  • Malcolm S. Longair, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Theoretical Concepts in Physics
    Published online:
    27 March 2020
    Print publication:
    16 April 2020, pp 29-47

  • Summary

    Galileo's brilliant experiments laid the foundations for the development of Newton's laws of motion. His experimental skill led to the derivation the law of acceleration as well as constructing the best telescopes for terrestrial and astronomical observations. His observations of the satellites of Jupiter provided an analogue for the motions of the planets about the Sun. His advocacy of the Copernican system of the world led to his trial and condemnation for heresy. His great realisation, the foundation of modern scientific enquiry, was that the laws of physics can be expressed in mathematical form.

  • 8 - Seeing beyond Aristotle: Galileo’s controversies

  • Todd Timberlake, Berry College, Georgia, Paul Wallace
  • Book:
    Finding our Place in the Solar System
    Published online:
    18 March 2019
    Print publication:
    28 March 2019, pp 211-246

  • Summary

    In 1609 Galileo Galilei heard about a new instrument that is now known as the telescope. He set out to make his own, and when he turned it to the sky he made a series of unexpected discoveries. He found many new stars that were invisible to the eye, mountains on the Moon, and four moons in orbit around Jupiter. Later he found that the Sun's surface was spotted and seemed to rotate, and that Venus went through a series of phases like the Moon. These discoveries cast doubt on the traditional Aristotelian-Ptolemaic model of the universe, but it was Galileo’s investigation of motion that helped to finally bring down the traditional views. Galileo’s experimental work and mathematical insight led him to conclude that all bodies fall to the Earth with the same constant acceleration, and that bodies moving horizontally will continue in their motion unless impeded. This new understanding of motion made the idea of a moving Earth more plausible. Although Galileo’s work led to conflict with authorities in the Catholic Church, his work helped many future astronomers to embrace the heliocentric models of Copernicus and Kepler.