INFOMAN


 
Galilei Galileo
Galileo was born in Pisa before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, so this chart is presented in the Julian, or Old Style, calendar (The New Style date would be 26 February 1564). The date and time shown here have been researched by Nick Kollerstrohm from horoscope charts drawn up by Galileo himself, and differ from those traditionally used.
Four of Jupiter's moons were discovered by Galileo Galilei (b. 16.2.1564 OS, 1528 LAT=1500 GMT, Pisa, d. 8.1.1642, Arcetri) in Padua, initially, after half an hour's observation of Jupiter. He suddenly "became aware of 3 little stars...lying near it", an hour and a half after sunset (1610 hr GMT), and soon found a fourth, on 7 January 1610: these were Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (in order of increasing distance from Jupiter). These four satellites are now known as the Galilean or Jovian Moons (he called them the Medicean Planets) and are visible through a small telescope. The discovery showed to Galilei that, contrary to old beliefs, there were at least two centres of movement in the Universe (one being considered to be Earth), and was crucial in establishing that the Earth was not the centre of the solar system. This discovery led him to try to convince the Catholic Church that the Sun was at the centre of the Solar System. They were not persuaded, and were moved to place Nicholas Copernicus's pioneeering work on the subject, De Revolutionibus ("On The Revolution", published in 1543), on the Holy Office's index of forbidden books. This so angered Galilei, that he began to publically mock the church. This led to Galilei's own books also being banned, and to twenty years of conflict, until he was dragged to Rome by the Inquisition. On 22 June 1633 at the convent of Santa Maria Sopre Minera, Rome, Galilei was forced to renounce his heresy that the Earth was not the fixed centre of the Universe, under threat of torture. As he got up from his knees, he is said to have muttered under his breath, "Eppur si muove!" ("And yet it moves!")
After Galileo's "heresy" was proved to be fact, astrology and astronomy divided into two separate disciplines, and astrology fell into disrepute, becoming an underground activity. To some degree it remains so to this day.

This page was last updated on 12/06/03