The story of  Galileo Galilei and Leaning Tower of  Pisa is very interesting. At the age of 23, when he was working as a   lecturer in Mathematics in Pisa University, Italy,  he read in a religious book that if two bodies of  different  masses are      allowed to fall simultaneously from the same height, the heavy body  will hit the ground first. In fact Aristotle made the same statement. Galileo was the first    scientist to prove this statement wrong.

For this he selected the 180 feet high Leaning Tower of Pisa. On the day of demonstration, Galileo went up to the seventh floor of Pisa Tower with two metal balls weighing 100 pounds and 1 pound respectively. Thousands of people had turned upto witness his     experiment. Among the crowd were many professors and students of Pisa University. Many superstious  spectators who had blind faith in Aristotle’s 1000 years old statement,  were abusing Galileo.

Galileo put both the balls at one edge of the roof very carefully. Some people were curiously watching the      experiment and some were talking with each other that the man is going to be a  fool very soon. Galileo dropped both the balls simultaneously. All present were  astonished to sea that the two balls hit the ground at the same time. In this way many years old superstition was proved wrong  scientifically. Galileo could understand many facts about gravitation. Although these were no sophisticated instruments, he was the first man who disproved many old notions by his simple experiments.

 This great scientist, eminent       astronomer and seeker of truth, was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy. His father Vincenjio Galilei was a trader. The financial condition of his family was not so good. His father  was a great music lover. Galileo inheriting this trait from his father was a very good flute player in his childhood.  He was too good in drawing and designing. In his childhood, Galileo studied in the local school under the priests. From his childhood, he was deeply interested in studying nature and science.  That is why he could see every natural event with a scientific angle.

In 1581, at the age of 17, his father admitted him in the Pisa University to study medicine. But his mind was set on mathematics.  One evening he went to church to pray. It was getting dark and the caretaker was lighting the candles hanging from the roof by a chain. When he left it, it started swing to and fro. Young Galileo observed this keenly and noticed that the time taken in each swing the same. There was no watch those days to measure time. Being a medical student he knew that human pulse is regular. To prove his observation he counted number of pulse beats for its swing. On this basis he made an instrument which is known as Pulse Meter. He also demonstrated practical application of  his discovery of the pendulum. This has laid to the development of today’s pendulum clock.

Galileo went through a financial crisis in 1585 which resulted in abandoning his university education. But, he continued with his self-study and his interest centered on mathematics. He openly criticized Aristotle’s law of motion. His deep study came to the knowledge of the local  Duke. The Duke appointed Galileo as professor of Mathematics at Pisa University at the age of 25. He proved many mathematical laws experimentally. The orthodox professors did not accept his findings. Hence, fed up with  the  opposition, he resigned from his post in 1592.

Meanwhile, Galileo got an offer to be a professor of mathematics at Padua University in Venice. He stayed there for long 18 years which proved as a period of prosperity for him. Students from all over the world came to study under him.   He fabricated the first telescope. When the views of his telescope reached Venice, the King Singh Aroia called him. The whole royal court was surprised to see this     instrument. Many people went up to the top of Venice Church and saw the ships in the ocean nearly ten times nearer with the help of this telescope. With this instrument, Galileo  first observed the moon and viewed that the moon was not flat. He noted that the planets, like the stars, did not shine  on their own but depend on some outward source for light. He noted that the galaxy in the sky is clusters of stars and proved that our milky-way is composed of millions of stars.  He also found out the satellites of Jupiter  and viewed that the earth reflects the sun’s light. 

Common people  believed that the earth is fixed and sun is moving around the earth. A scientist named Copernicus said that the sun is the centre of the universe. Galileo established the validity of his views. He said that the earth is not the centre and like other planets, it revolves around the sun. For this he was summoned before the church officials and was warned to stop this propaganda. Due to this he was prohibited of giving any public speech.

After this Galileo published his   famous book on ‘Dialogues concerning the two principal systems of the world’. In this book Galileo expressed his views freely. This was an offence in the opinion of church officials and as a result  in 1634, the 70 years old scientist was summoned before the court once again. The officials were willing to pardon him if he accepted that the statement was wrong.

It is said that after acute pressurization Galileo rose to admit his folly and discard his scientific beliefs. But his conscience rebelled and he was overcome with repentance. He looked towards the ground and said in a broken voice:- “It is the earth which moves around the sun”. For this defiance the aged scientist was put in prison. In 1637, Galileo became blind and in January 1642, he passed away.