PPT Slide
was born near Pisa in February 15, 1564 -- the same year
in which Shakespeare was born and the year in which
Michelangelo and Calvin died.
After studying at the University of Pisa (he enrolled as a medical student), Galileo was appointed to the chair of mathematics (at 25).. Actually he never finished his degree, but he was recognized as being extremely talented in mathematics.
At 28 years old he moved to Padua (150,000 people), in the Venetian Republic (until he was 46). This was an extremely active and exciting city, and he was one of the main participants in this intellectual and social activity. A good friend of his in Padua was Sagredo, a Venetian wealthy nobleman, who appears later in his famous book “Dialogue Concerning the “Two World Systems” and “The Two Sciences”.
With his mistress, Marina [Gamba] of Venice, who he met in Padua, he had two daughters and a son. There is a recent book with the letters and history of one of his daughters, Maria Celeste, who became a nun in a convent. He was very attached to her, and they had a very close correspondence. See Galileo’s Daughter, by Dava Sobel. Very interesting material can be found in these letters, and book.