Galileo Galilei

1564–1642 · Italian · Scientific Revolution

Known for: Father of Modern Science who championed heliocentrism and established experimental physics

Galileo turned a telescope to the heavens and blew apart 2,000 years of cosmic certainty. He discovered Jupiter's moons, the phases of Venus, craters on the Moon, and sunspots—each observation a nail in the coffin of the geocentric universe. He was a gifted writer, musician, and artist who combined Leonardo's curiosity with a street-fighter's instinct for debate.

His advocacy of Copernican heliocentrism brought him before the Inquisition in 1633, where he was forced to recant on his knees. He spent his last years under house arrest, going blind but still working. Legend says he muttered 'And yet it moves' after his recantation—probably apocryphal, but perfectly in character for a man who could not stop telling the truth even when the Church had a dungeon with his name on it.

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