Definition for Galileo Galilei
From Biology Forums Dictionary
Galileo Galilei (1564 to 1642): Astronomer and mathematician, born in Italy. He entered Pisa University as a medical student in 1581, and became professor of mathematics at Padua, where he improved the refracting telescope (1610), and was the first to use it for astronomy. His bold advocacy of the Copernican theory brought severe ecclesiastical censure. (Some argue that his real crime, in the eyes of the church, was belief in atomic theory, which posed real problems for the doctrine of transubstantiation.) He was forced to retract before the Inquisition, and was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment--though the sentence was commuted by the pope, at the request of the Duke of Tuscany. Under house arrest in Florence, he continued his research, though by 1637 he had become totally blind. The validity of his scientific work was formally recognized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1993.