Galileo Galilei, better known as only Galileo, is one of the most magnanimous figures of the Scientific Revolution of the Early-Modern world that laid the philosophical foundations of modern scientific thought. Born in 1564 in the Italian city of Pisa, he was among the pioneers of his era who defined the world in the new rationalistic perspective.

Although he was a polymath i.e. he had mastered contemporary mathematics, physics and astronomy as well as philosophy, Galileo is remembered for his pioneering work on astronomical sciences. His invention of telescope was one of the most impactful scientific discoveries ever. With it, he confirmed the theory of Copernicus by observing the movements of the planets and the stars and declared that the Earth indeed revolves around the Sun and not vice versa. He also discovered a new planet which was named Jupiter afterwards. His confirmation of the theory of Copernicus earned him the wrath of the Christian papal order as it contradicted the orthodox Christian views on the matter. He was made to suffer physically and mentally for it and was imprisoned for a long part of his mature life.

Although students of modern science are familiar with the name of Galileo and his achievements, there are facts about him which are still lesser known. Some of these are:

• Despite being a devout Catholic in his early life, Galileo fathered three children with a woman named Marina Gamba out of wedlock.

• A century after his death in 1642 C.E, Galileo’s body was being removed from the grave for reburial when someone cut of the middle finger of his right hand as a memento. It is still preserved at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence.

• Galileo, like his father, was an accomplished lutenist and composer.

• Galileo’s escapement, a mechanism related to the pendulum of a clock, was devised by him when he was completely blind during the final years of his career.

• While under house arrest by the papal order as a punitive measure, Galileo had to read the seven penitential psalms once a week for 3 long years.

• It is during this time, that he also finished another pioneering work on Kinematics and strength of materials, which he named The Two New Sciences.

• Albert Einstein declared Galileo’s work of Kinematics as a very crucial work on physics.

• Amongst the lesser known astronomical observations of Galileo is his discussion of Kepler’s supernova.

• Galileo was the first to spot sunspots with his telescope in 1607, but mistook them for the transit of Mercury.

• It was Galileo who first observed the Milky Way and declared that it is multitude of stars packed densely.

These are some of the facts that are lesser known about the great scientific figure. He has rightly been adjudged as the ‘œFather of Modern Science’. Along with other scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton in England, the Renaissance Age was ushered into Europe which spelled the end for the Dark Ages.