Lecture 16: Galileo and the Telescope

Tycho did as much as could be done with the naked eye, a new technology was required to extend our vision, the telescope. This lecture introduces Galileo Galilei, the contemporary of Kepler who was in many ways the first modern astronomer, and his discoveries with the telescope. These observations were to electify Europe in the early 17th century, and begin the final intellectual dismantling of the Aristotelian view of the world. Galileo's claims that they constituted proof of the Copernican Heliocentric System, however, were to bring him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. Recorded 2006 Oct 12 in 100 Stillman Hall on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.