Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was perhaps the most famous astronomer in history. ... He had an only daughter named Virginia Galilei. She died in 1634 and it was hard for Galileo to recover. Galileo’s religion was Catholic. At the age of 12, Galileo entered the University of Pisa as a medical student. ... Galileo taught in Florence, and then was appointed to a chair of mathematics at Pisa in 1589. ... Also while at Pisa, Galileo discovered the isochronisms of the pendulum. ... In 1592, Galileo became professor of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he remained for 18 years. ... In 1602, Galileo resumed his investigations of motion along inclined planes and began to study the motions of pendulums. ... After a supernova appeared in the same year, Galileo became involved in a dispute with philosophers who held Aristotle’s view that change could not occur in the heavens.