Galileo and his views
The founder of the experimental-mathematical method of studying nature was the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Leonardo da Vinci gave only outlines of such a method for studying nature, while Galileo left a detailed presentation of this method and formulated the most important principles of the mechanical world.
Galileo was born into the family of an impoverished nobleman in the city of Pisa (near Florence). Convinced of the futility of scholastic scholarship, he delved into the mathematical sciences. Later becoming a professor of mathematics at the University of Padua, the scientist launched active research activities, especially in the field of mechanics and astronomy. For the triumph of the theory of Copernicus and the ideas expressed by Giordano Bruno, and therefore for the progress of the materialistic worldview in general great value had astronomical discoveries made by Galileo using the telescope he designed. He discovered craters and ridges on the Moon (in his mind - “mountains” and “seas”), saw countless clusters of stars forming the Milky Way, saw satellites, Jupiter, saw spots on the Sun, etc. Thanks to these discoveries, Galileo gained the pan-European fame of “Columbus of Heaven.” Astronomical discoveries Galileo, primarily the satellites of Jupiter, became clear evidence of the truth of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, and the phenomena observed on the Moon, which seemed to be a planet quite similar to the Earth, and spots on the Sun confirmed Bruno’s idea of the physical homogeneity of the Earth and the sky. The opening of the star cast Milky Way was indirect evidence of the countless worlds in the Universe.
These discoveries of Galileo marked the beginning of his fierce polemics with scholastics and churchmen who defended the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic picture of the world. If until now the Catholic Church, for the reasons stated above, was forced to tolerate the views of those scientists who recognized the Copernican theory as one of the hypotheses, and its ideologists believed that it was impossible to prove this hypothesis, now that this evidence has appeared, the Roman Church makes a decision prohibit the propaganda of Copernicus' views even as a hypothesis, and the book of Copernicus itself is included in the "List of Prohibited Books" (1616). All this put Galileo's work in jeopardy, but he continued to work to improve the evidence for the truth of Copernicus' theory. In this regard, Galileo’s work in the field of mechanics also played a huge role. The scholastic physics that dominated this era, based on superficial observations and speculative calculations, was clogged with ideas about the movement of things in accordance with their “nature” and purpose, about the natural heaviness and lightness of bodies, about the “fear of emptiness,” about perfection circular motion and other unscientific speculations that are intertwined in a tangled knot with religious dogmas and biblical myths. Galileo, through a series of brilliant experiments, gradually unraveled it and created the most important branch of mechanics - dynamics, i.e. the doctrine of the movement of bodies.
While dealing with issues of mechanics, Galileo discovered a number of its fundamental laws: the proportionality of the path traversed by falling bodies to the squares of the time of their fall; equality of the falling speeds of bodies of different weights in an airless environment (contrary to the opinion of Aristotle and the scholastics about the proportionality of the falling speed of bodies to their weight); the preservation of rectilinear uniform motion imparted to any body until some external influence stops it (which later became known as the law of inertia), etc.
The philosophical significance of the laws of mechanics discovered by Galileo and the laws of planetary motion around the Sun discovered by Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630) was enormous. The concept of regularity, of natural necessity, was born, one might say, along with the emergence of philosophy. But these initial concepts were not free from significant elements of anthropomorphism and mythology, which served as one of the epistemological grounds for their further interpretation in an idealistic spirit. The discovery of the laws of mechanics by Galileo and the laws of planetary motion by Kepler, who gave a strictly mathematical interpretation of the concept of these laws and freed their understanding from elements of anthropomorphism, put this understanding on a physical basis. Thus, for the first time in history, the development of human knowledge, the concept of the law of nature acquired a strictly scientific content.
The laws of mechanics were also applied by Galileo to prove the theory of Copernicus, which was incomprehensible to most people who did not know these laws. For example, from the point of view of “common reason” it seems completely natural that when the Earth moves in cosmic space, a powerful vortex should arise, sweeping away everything from its surface. This was one of the most “strong” arguments against the Copernican theory. Galileo established that the uniform motion of a body does not in any way affect the processes occurring on its surface. For example, on a moving ship, the fall of bodies occurs in the same way as on a stationary one. Therefore, detect the uniform and linear motion of the Earth on the Earth itself.
The great scientist formulated all these ideas in the “Dialogue about two major systems world - Ptolemaic and Copernican" (1632), which scientifically proved the truth of Copernicus' theory. This book served as the basis for the accusation of Galileo by the Catholic Church. The scientist was brought to trial by the Roman Inquisition; in 1633
His famous trial took place, at which he was forced to formally renounce his “misconceptions.” His book was banned, but the church could no longer stop the further triumph of the ideas of Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo. The Italian thinker emerged victorious.
Using the theory of dual truth, Galileo decisively separated science from religion. He argued, for example, that nature should be studied through mathematics and experience, and not through the Bible. In understanding nature, a person should be guided only by his own reason. The subject of science is nature and man. The subject of religion is “piety and obedience,” the sphere of human moral actions.
Based on this, Galileo came to the conclusion about the possibility of limitless knowledge of nature. Here too, the thinker came into conflict with the prevailing scholastic-dogmatic ideas about the inviolability of the provisions of “divine truth” recorded in the Bible, in the works of the “church fathers,” the scholastic Aristotle and other “authorities.” Based on the idea of the infinity of the Universe, the great Italian scientist put forward a deep epistemological idea that knowledge of truth is endless process. This attitude of Galileo, contrary to scholasticism, led him to the approval of a new method of knowing the truth.
Like many other thinkers of the Renaissance, Galileo had a negative attitude towards scholastic, syllogistic logic. Traditional logic, according to him, is suitable for correcting logically imperfect thoughts and is indispensable in conveying already discovered truths to others, but it is not capable of leading to the discovery of new truths, and thereby to the invention of new things. And it is precisely to the discovery of new truths that, according to Galileo, a truly scientific methodology should lead.
When developing such a methodology, Galileo acted as a convinced, passionate promoter of experience as the path that alone can lead to truth. The desire for an experimental study of nature was, however, also characteristic of other advanced thinkers of the Renaissance, but Galileo’s merit lies in the fact that he developed the principles of the scientific study of nature that Leonardo dreamed of. If the overwhelming majority of thinkers of the Renaissance, who emphasized the importance of experience in the knowledge of nature, meant experience as a simple observation of its phenomena, passive perception of them, then Galileo, with all his activity as a scientist who discovered a number of fundamental laws of nature, showed the decisive role of experiment, i.e. . a systematically staged experiment through which the researcher asks nature questions that interest him and receives answers to them.
When exploring nature, a scientist, according to Galileo, must use a double method: resolutive (analytical) and composite (synthetic). By the composite method, Galileo means deduction. But he understands it not as a simple syllogistic, which is quite acceptable for scholasticism, but as a way of mathematical calculation of facts that interest a scientist. Many thinkers of this era, reviving the ancient traditions of Pythagoreanism, dreamed of such a calculus, but only Galileo put it on a scientific basis. The scientist showed the enormous importance of quantitative analysis, 6 the precise determination of quantitative relationships in the study of natural phenomena. Thus he found scientific point the contact between experimental-inductive and abstract-deductive methods of studying nature, which makes it possible to connect abstract scientific thinking with the concrete perception of natural phenomena and processes.
However, the scientific methodology developed by Galileo, but the force is mainly one-sided analytical in nature. This feature of his methodology was in harmony with the flourishing of manufacturing production that began in this era, with the division of the production process and the order of operations that determined it. The emergence of this methodology was associated with the specifics of scientific knowledge itself, which begins with the clarification of the simplest form of the movement of matter - with the movement of bodies in space, studied by mechanics.
The noted feature of the methodology developed by Galileo also determined the distinctive features of his philosophical views, which in general can be characterized as features of mechanistic materialism. Galileo represented matter as a very real, corporeal substance with a corpuscular structure. The thinker revived here the views of ancient atomists. But unlike them, Galileo closely linked the atomistic interpretation of nature with mathematics and mechanics. The Book of Nature, Galileo said, cannot be understood unless one masters its mathematical language, the signs of which are triangles, circles and other mathematical figures.
Since the mechanistic understanding of nature cannot explain its infinite qualitative diversity, Galileo, to a certain extent relying on Democritus, was the first of the modern philosophers to develop the position about the subjectivity of color, smell, sound, etc. In the work “The Assayer” (1623), the thinker points out that particles of matter have a certain shape and size, they occupy a certain place in space, move or are at rest, but do not have color, taste, or smell, which are therefore not essential for matter. All sensory qualities arise only in the perceiving subject.
Galileo's view of matter as consisting essentially of qualityless particles of matter is fundamentally different from the views of natural philosophers, who ascribed to matter and nature not only objective qualities, but also animation. In Galileo’s mechanistic view of the world, nature is killed, and matter ceases, in the words of Marx, to smile at man with its poetic and sensual brilliance. The mechanistic nature of Galileo’s views, as well as the ideological immaturity of the bourgeois class, whose worldview he expressed, did not allow him to completely free himself from the theological idea of God. He was unable to do this due to the metaphysical nature of his views on the world, according to which in nature, which basically consists of the same elements, nothing is destroyed and nothing new is born. Anti-historicism is also inherent in Galileo’s understanding of human knowledge. Thus, Galileo expressed the idea of the non-experimental origin of universal and necessary mathematical truths. This metaphysical point of view opened up the possibility of appealing to God as the final source of the most reliable truths. This idealistic tendency is even more clearly manifested in Galileo in his understanding of the origin of the solar system. Although he, following Bruno, proceeded from the infinity of the Universe, he combined this conviction with the idea of the invariability of the circular orbits of the planets and the speeds of their movement. In an effort to explain the structure of the Universe, Galileo argued that God, who once created the world, placed the Sun at the center of the world, and told the planets to move towards the Sun, changing their straight path to a circular one at a certain point. This is where God's activity ends. Since then, nature has its own objective laws, the study of which is only a matter of science.
Thus, in modern times, Galileo was one of the first to formulate a deistic view of nature. This view was then adhered to by the majority of progressive thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Galileo's scientific and philosophical activity lays the foundation for a new stage in the development of philosophical thought in Europe - mechanistic and metaphysical materialism of the 17th - 18th centuries.
Introduction
1. Formation of Galileo's views in the light of history
2. Galileo as the founder of the experimental-mathematical method of studying nature
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
In the middle XVI century The humanism of the Platonic school in Italy has passed its zenith; its main time has passed. In the second half of the 16th century early XVII V. A specific philosophical area appears on the scene - the philosophy of nature. The philosophy of nature is a typical expression of Renaissance nature. Its homeland was Italy, most famous representative Giordano Bruno. In parallel with the philosophy of nature, a new natural science is developing, implementing a radical revaluation of old traditions and premises. It brings a number of epoch-making discoveries and becomes one of the most important sources of new philosophy. The philosophical and methodological basis sciences, and new ones are being created. Scholastic doctrine of nature, highest level which was achieved by the Parisian and Oxford schools in the 14th century, in essence never crossed the boundaries of theoretical speculation. In contrast, Renaissance scientists put experience, the study of nature, experimental method research. Mathematics is gaining a prominent place; the principle of mathematization of science corresponds to the main progressive trends in the development of science, scientific and philosophical thinking.
New trends in science were reflected in the works of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Galileo Galilei (1546-1642).
The most important battlefield on which the battle took place between the new and old world, between the conservative and progressive forces of society, religion and science, was astronomy. Medieval religious doctrine was based on the idea of the Earth as God's chosen planet and the privileged position of man in the universe. Studying astronomical objects scientists of that time in practice comprehended the laws of motion celestial bodies and laid the fundamental concepts for the development of another science of physics. Galileo Galilei became one of the founders of the fundamental laws of physics.
In the presented work, we provide brief biographical information about the scientist, and also reveal his views on the natural world in philosophical and scientific terms, since scientists of that time, understanding the natural world and comprehending it philosophically, made deep scientific conclusions based on the logical methods of philosophy they used .
1. Brief biographical information
The founder of the experimental-mathematical method of studying nature was the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Leonardo da Vinci gave only outlines of such a method for studying nature, while Galileo left a detailed exposition of this method and formulated essential principles mechanical world.
Galileo was born into a noble but impoverished family in the city of Pisa on February 15, 1564 (not far from Florence). The scientist’s father was a composer and musician, but it was difficult to live on the money he earned, and the latter worked part-time as a cloth trader. Until the age of 11, Galileo studied at regular school, but after the family moved to Florence, he began to study at a school at a Benedictine monastery, and at the age of 17 he entered the University of Pisa and began to prepare for the profession of a doctor. First scientific work Galileo's "Small Hydrostatic Balances" was published in 1586 and it brought Galileo some fame among scientists. On the recommendation of one of them, Guido Ubalde del Monte, Galilei received the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589 and at the age of 25 became a professor.
Galileo taught mathematics and astronomy to students in accordance with the teachings of Ptolemy, and his experiments date back to the same period of time, which he carried out by throwing various bodies from the leaning Leaning Tower of Pisa to see if they fell in accordance with the teachings of Aristotle - heavy ones faster than light ones. The answer was negative.
In On Motion, published in 1590, Galileo criticized Aristotle's doctrine of the fall of bodies. Galileo's criticism of Aristotle's views caused discontent and the scientist accepted an offer to occupy the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua. The scientist's biographers noted the Padua period as the most fruitful and happiest in his life. Here Galileo found a family by marrying Marina Gamba and had two daughters: Virginia (1600), Livia (1601) and a son, Vincenzo (1606). In 1606, Galileo became interested in astronomy
For the triumph of the Copernican theory and the ideas expressed by Giordano Bruno, and consequently for the progress of the materialistic worldview in general, the astronomical discoveries made by Galileo with the help of the telescope he designed were of great importance. He discovered craters and ridges on the Moon (in his mind - “mountains” and “seas”), saw countless clusters of stars forming the Milky Way, saw satellites, Jupiter, saw spots on the Sun, etc. Thanks to these discoveries, Galileo gained the pan-European fame of “Columbus of Heaven.” Galileo's astronomical discoveries, primarily the satellites of Jupiter, became clear evidence of the truth of Copernicus's heliocentric theory, and the phenomena observed on the Moon, which appeared to be a planet quite similar to the Earth, and spots on the Sun confirmed Bruno's idea of the physical homogeneity of the Earth and the sky. The discovery of the stellar composition of the Milky Way was indirect evidence of the countless worlds in the Universe. In March 1610, he published Galileo’s works on astronomy in his work “The Starry Messenger,” and this was the beginning of his new life. Tuscan Duke Cosimo 11 Medici invited Galileo to become a court mathematician, and he accepted the offer, returning to live in Florence.
These discoveries of Galileo marked the beginning of his fierce polemics with scholastics and churchmen who defended the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic picture of the world. If so far Catholic Church for the reasons stated above, was forced to endure the views of those scientists who recognized the Copernican theory as one of the hypotheses, and its ideologists believed that it was impossible to prove this hypothesis, now that this evidence has appeared, the Roman Church decides to prohibit the propaganda of Copernicus’s views even in as a hypothesis, and the book of Copernicus itself is included in the “List of Prohibited Books” (1616). All this put Galileo's work in jeopardy, but he continued to work to improve the evidence for the truth of Copernicus' theory. In this regard, Galileo’s work in the field of mechanics also played a huge role. While still a student, Galileo Galilei observed in the cathedral of Pisa that chandeliers of different sizes and weights, but having the same length, also have the same periods of oscillation. He compared chandeliers with a pendulum and based on this he concluded that the period of oscillation of a pendulum will be greater, the longer the pendulum is. Since at that time mechanical watches were not yet invented to measure time; to determine the period of oscillations, Galileo used the beats of his own pulse.
The scholastic physics that dominated this era, based on superficial observations and speculative calculations, was clogged with ideas about the movement of things in accordance with their “nature” and purpose, about the natural heaviness and lightness of bodies, about the “fear of emptiness,” about the perfection of circular motion and others. unscientific speculations that are intertwined in a tangled knot with religious dogmas and biblical myths. Galileo, through a series of brilliant experiments, gradually unraveled it and created the most important branch of mechanics - dynamics, i.e. the doctrine of the movement of bodies.
Already in 1616, Galileo was accused of striving for heresy, since the teachings of Copernicus that year were recognized as false by 11 theologians and Copernicus’s book “On Conversion” celestial spheres" was included in the index of prohibited books; accordingly, any propaganda of the teachings of Copernicus was prohibited.
In 1623, under the name of Urban V111, Galileo's friend Cardinal Maffeo Barberini became pope and Galileo hoped for the lifting of the above ban, but having received a refusal, he returned to Florence. There Galileo continued to work on his book “Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World” and in 1632 it was published. The publication of the book caused a sharp reaction from the church and the scientist was summoned to Rome. In one of his letters, Galileo wrote: “I arrived in Rome on February 10, 1633 and relied on the mercy of the Inquisition and the Holy Father... First they locked me in the Trinity Castle on the mountain, and the next day the commissioner of the Inquisition visited me and took me away in his carriage. On the way he asked me various questions and expressed the wish that I would stop the scandal caused in Italy by my discovery concerning the movement of the earth... For everything mathematical proofs, which I could oppose to him, he answered me with words from scripture: “The earth has been and will be motionless forever and ever.”
The investigation into Galileo's case lasted from April to June 1633, and on June 22, Galileo pronounced the text of abdication before the Inquisition court, and after that he was exiled to his villa. While under house arrest, Galileo writes “Conversations and mathematical proofs concerning two new areas of science”, where in particular he sets out the fundamentals of dynamics (the law of free fall, the law of addition of displacements, the doctrine of the resistance of materials), but they refuse to print the book and it is published only in Holland in July 1638, however, the blind scientist was never able to see his work with his own eyes, but could only touch it with his hands.
In November 1979, Pope John Paul 11 officially admitted that the Inquisition in 1633 made a mistake against the scientist by forcing him to forcibly renounce the Copernican theory.
Galileo Galilei - greatest thinker Renaissance, founder of modern mechanics, physics and astronomy, follower of ideas, predecessor.
The future scientist was born in Italy, the city of Pisa on February 15, 1564. Father Vincenzo Galilei, who belonged to an impoverished family of aristocrats, played the lute and wrote treatises on music theory. Vincenzo was a member of the Florentine Camerata, whose members sought to revive the ancient Greek tragedy. The result of the activities of musicians, poets and singers was the creation of a new genre of opera at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.
Mother Julia Ammannati led household and raised four children: the eldest Galileo, Virginia, Livia and Michelangelo. Younger son followed in his father's footsteps and subsequently became famous as a composer. When Galileo was 8 years old, the family moved to the capital of Tuscany, the city of Florence, where the Medici dynasty flourished, known for its patronage of artists, musicians, poets and scientists.
IN early age Galileo was sent to school at the Benedictine monastery of Vallombrosa. The boy showed abilities in drawing, learning languages and exact sciences. From his father, Galileo inherited an ear for music and an ability for composition, but the young man was truly attracted only to science.
Studies
At the age of 17, Galileo went to Pisa to study medicine at the university. The young man, in addition to basic subjects and medical practice, became interested in visiting math classes. The young man discovered the world of geometry and algebraic formulas, which influenced Galileo’s worldview. During the three years that the young man studied at the university, he thoroughly studied the works of ancient Greek thinkers and scientists, and also became acquainted with the heliocentric theory of Copernicus.
After the expiration of the three-year period of stay in educational institution Galileo was forced to return to Florence due to lack of funds for further studies from his parents. The university management did not make concessions to the talented young man and did not give him the opportunity to complete the course and receive academic degree. But Galileo already had an influential patron, the Marquis Guidobaldo del Monte, who admired Galileo's talents in the field of invention. The aristocrat petitioned the Tuscan Duke Ferdinand I de' Medici for his ward and secured a salary for the young man at the ruler's court.
University work
The Marquis del Monte helped the talented scientist get a teaching position at University of Bologna. In addition to lectures, Galileo conducts fruitful scientific activities. The scientist studies issues of mechanics and mathematics. In 1689, the thinker returned to the University of Pisa for three years, but now as a teacher of mathematics. In 1692, he moved to the Venetian Republic, the city of Padua, for 18 years.
Combining teaching work at a local university with scientific experiments, Galileo publishes the books “On Motion”, “Mechanics”, where he refutes the ideas of . During these same years, one of the important events- a scientist invents a telescope that makes it possible to observe the life of celestial bodies. The astronomer described the discoveries made by Galileo using a new instrument in his treatise “The Starry Messenger”.
Returning to Florence in 1610, in the care of Tuscan Duke Cosimo de' Medici II, Galileo publishes the work "Letters on Sunspots", which was critically received by the Catholic Church. At first XVII century The Inquisition acted on a large scale. And the followers of Copernicus were held in special regard by the zealots of the Christian faith.
In 1600, he was already executed at the stake, who never renounced his own views. Therefore, works Galileo Galilei Catholics considered it provocative. The scientist himself considered himself an exemplary Catholic and did not see a contradiction between his works and the Christocentric picture of the world. The astronomer and mathematician considered the Bible to be a book promoting the salvation of the soul, and not at all a scientific educational treatise.
In 1611, Galileo went to Rome to demonstrate the telescope to Pope Paul V. The scientist carried out the presentation of the device as correctly as possible and even received the approval of the capital's astronomers. But the scientist's request to bear final decision on the issue heliocentric system the world decided its fate in the eyes of the Catholic Church. The papists declared Galileo a heretic, and the indictment process began in 1615. The concept of heliocentrism was officially declared false by the Roman Commission in 1616.
Philosophy
The main postulate of Galileo's worldview is the recognition of the objectivity of the world, regardless of human subjective perception. The Universe is eternal and infinite, initiated by a divine first impulse. Nothing in space disappears without a trace, only a change in the form of matter occurs. At the core material world lies mechanical movement particles, by studying which you can understand the laws of the universe. Therefore, scientific activity must be based on experience and sensory knowledge peace. Nature, according to Galileo, is the true subject of philosophy, by comprehending which one can get closer to the truth and fundamental principle of all things.
Galileo was an adherent of two methods of natural science - experimental and deductive. Using the first method, the scientist sought to prove hypotheses, the second involved a consistent movement from one experience to another, in order to achieve completeness of knowledge. In his work, the thinker relied primarily on teaching. While criticizing the views, Galileo did not reject analytical method, used by the philosopher of antiquity.
Astronomy
Thanks to the telescope invented in 1609, which was created using a convex lens and a concave eyepiece, Galileo began observing heavenly bodies. But the threefold magnification of the first instrument was not enough for the scientist to carry out full-fledged experiments, and soon the astronomer created a telescope with a 32x magnification of objects.
Galileo Galilei's inventions: telescope and first compass The first luminary that Galileo studied in detail using the new instrument was the Moon. The scientist discovered many mountains and craters on the surface of the Earth's satellite. The first discovery confirmed that the Earth physical properties no different from other celestial bodies. This was the first refutation of Aristotle’s statement about the difference between earthly and heavenly nature.
The second major discovery in the field of astronomy concerned the discovery of four satellites of Jupiter, which in the 20th century was confirmed by numerous space photos. Thus, he refuted the arguments of Copernicus’s opponents that if the Moon revolves around the Earth, then the Earth cannot revolve around the Sun. Galileo, due to the imperfections of the first telescopes, was unable to establish the rotation period of these satellites. The final proof of the rotation of Jupiter's moons was put forward 70 years later by the astronomer Cassini.
Galileo discovered the presence of sunspots, which he observed for a long time. Having studied the star, Galileo concluded that the Sun rotates around own axis. Observing Venus and Mercury, the astronomer determined that the orbits of the planets are closer to the Sun than the Earth's. Galileo discovered the rings of Saturn and even described the planet Neptune, but he was unable to fully advance these discoveries due to imperfect technology. Observing the stars of the Milky Way through a telescope, the scientist became convinced of their immense number.
Experimentally and empirically, Galileo proves that the Earth rotates not only around the Sun, but also around its own axis, which further strengthened the astronomer in the correctness of the Copernican hypothesis. In Rome, after a hospitable reception at the Vatican, Galileo became a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, which was founded by Prince Cesi.
Mechanics
The basis physical process in nature, according to Galileo, mechanical movement. The scientist viewed the Universe as a complex mechanism consisting of the simplest causes. Therefore, mechanics has become the cornerstone in scientific activity Galilee. Galileo made many discoveries in the field of mechanics itself, and also determined the directions of future discoveries in physics.
The scientist was the first to establish the law of fall and confirm it empirically. Galileo discovered physical formula flight of a body moving at an angle to horizontal surface. The parabolic motion of the thrown object had important for calculating artillery tables.
Galileo formulated the law of inertia, which became the fundamental axiom of mechanics. Another discovery was the substantiation of the principle of relativity for classical mechanics, as well as calculation of the formula for oscillation of pendulums. Based latest research The first pendulum clock was invented in 1657 by the physicist Huygens.
Galileo was the first to pay attention to the resistance of the material, which gave impetus to the development independent science. The scientist’s reasoning subsequently formed the basis of the laws of physics on the conservation of energy in a gravitational field and the moment of force.
Mathematics
In his mathematical judgments, Galileo came close to the idea of probability theory. The scientist outlined his own research on this matter in the treatise “Reflections on the Game of Dice,” which was published 76 years after the author’s death. Galileo became the author of the famous mathematical paradox about natural numbers and their squares. Galileo recorded his calculations in his work “Conversations on Two New Sciences.” The developments formed the basis of the theory of sets and their classification.
Conflict with the Church
After 1616, a turning point in scientific biography Galileo, he was forced into the shadows. The scientist was afraid to express his own ideas explicitly, so the only book Galileo published his 1623 work “The Assayer” after Copernicus was declared a heretic. After the change of power in the Vatican, Galileo perked up; he believed that the new Pope Urban VIII would be more favorable to Copernican ideas than his predecessor.
But after the polemical treatise “Dialogue on the Two Main Systems of the World” appeared in print in 1632, the Inquisition again initiated proceedings against the scientist. The story with the accusation repeated itself, but this time it ended much worse for Galileo.
Personal life
While living in Padua, young Gallileo met a citizen of the Venetian Republic, Marina Gamba, who became common-law wife scientist. Three children were born into Galileo's family - son Vincenzo and daughters Virginia and Livia. Since the children were born outside of marriage, the girls subsequently had to become nuns. At the age of 55, Galileo managed to legitimize only his son, so the young man was able to marry and give his father a grandson, who later, like his aunt, became a monk.
Galileo Galilei was outlawed After the Inquisition outlawed Galileo, he moved to a villa in Arcetri, which was located not far from the daughters' monastery. Therefore, quite often Galileo could see his favorite, eldest daughter Virginia, until her death in 1634. The younger Livia did not visit her father due to illness.
Death
As a result of a short-term imprisonment in 1633, Galileo renounced the idea of heliocentrism and was placed under permanent arrest. The scientist was placed under home protection in the city of Arcetri with restrictions on communication. Galileo stayed in the Tuscan villa without leaving until last days life. The genius's heart stopped on January 8, 1642. At the time of death, two students were next to the scientist - Viviani and Torricelli. During the 1930s it was possible to publish recent works thinker - “Dialogues” and “Conversations and mathematical proofs concerning two new branches of science” in Protestant Holland.
Tomb of Galileo Galilei After his death, Catholics forbade burying Galileo's ashes in the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Croce, where the scientist wanted to rest. Justice triumphed in 1737. From now on, Galileo's grave is located next to. Another 20 years later, the church rehabilitated the idea of heliocentrism. Galileo had to wait much longer for his acquittal. The error of the Inquisition was only recognized in 1992 by Pope John Paul II.
Report on the topic: Life and work of Galileo Galilei
Founder of the experimental-mathematical research method
nature was the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).
Leonardo da Vinci gave only sketches of such a method of studying nature, Galileo
however, he left a detailed presentation of this method and formulated the most important
principles of the mechanical world.
Galileo was born into the family of an impoverished nobleman in the city of Pisa (near
from Florence). Convinced of the sterility of scholastic learning, he delved deeper
V mathematical sciences. Later becoming a professor of mathematics
University of Padua, the scientist launched an active scientific
research activities, especially in the fields of mechanics and astronomy.
For the triumph of the Copernican theory and the ideas expressed by Giordano Bruno, and
consequently, for the progress of the materialist worldview in general
the astronomical discoveries made by Galileo with
using a telescope he designed. He discovered craters and ridges on
Moon (in his mind - “mountains” and “seas”), he saw countless,
clusters of stars forming the Milky Way, saw satellites, Jupiter,
saw spots on the Sun, etc. Thanks to these discoveries, Galileo acquired
all the European glory of "Columbus of the sky". Astronomical discoveries of Galileo, in
primarily the satellites of Jupiter, became clear evidence
the truth of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, and the phenomena observed on
The Moon, which seemed to be a planet quite similar to the Earth, and spots on
The sun confirmed Bruno's idea of the physical homogeneity of the Earth and sky.
The discovery of the stellar composition of the Milky Way was indirect
proof of the countless worlds in the Universe.
These discoveries of Galileo marked the beginning of his fierce controversy
with scholastics and churchmen who defended the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic
picture of the world. If the Catholic Church is still, according to the above
reasons was forced to tolerate the views of those scientists who recognized
Copernican theory as one of the hypotheses, and its ideologists believed that
it is impossible to prove this hypothesis, now that this evidence
appeared, the Roman Church decides to ban the propaganda of views
Copernicus even as a hypothesis, and the book of Copernicus itself is included in
"List of Prohibited Books" (1616). All this set the stage for Galileo's activities
under attack, but he continued to work on improving the evidence
the truth of Copernicus' theory. In this regard, the work played a huge role
Galileo and in the field of mechanics. The scholastic school that dominated this era
physics based on superficial observations and speculative
calculations, was clogged with ideas about the movement of things in accordance with
their “nature” and purpose, about the natural heaviness and lightness of bodies, about the “fear
emptiness", about the perfection of circular motion and other unscientific speculations,
which are intertwined in a tangled knot with religious dogmas and biblical
myths. Galileo, through a series of brilliant experiments, gradually unraveled it
and created the most important branch of mechanics - dynamics, i.e. the study of motion
“An idealized approach to experimental facts consists in constructing an ideal experimental model that makes it possible to identify the essential dependencies of the phenomena under study in pure form, which is achieved by abstracting from all extraneous factors that distort the real experiment.
For example, to prove the dependence of the speed of a body on the height of an inclined plane, Galileo uses an experiment, ideal model which is designed as follows.
This dependence is satisfied with ideal accuracy if inclined planes absolutely hard and smooth, and the moving body has a completely regular round shape, so there is no friction between the planes and the body. Using this ideal model, Galileo builds a real installation, the parameters of which are as close as possible to perfect occasion.
Thus, Galileo's idealized approach involves using a thought experiment as a theoretical condition(project) of a real experiment.
Usually a thought experiment is preceded by rough experiments and observations. Thus, in experiments with free falling bodies, Galileo could only reduce air resistance, but could not eliminate it completely. So he moves on to the ideal case where there is no air resistance. Often thought experiment used as theoretical justification certain provisions.
Thus, Galileo gives an elegant refutation of the thesis Aristotle that heavy bodies fall faster than light ones. Let's say, he says, that Aristotle is right. Then, if we connect two bodies together, then more light body, falling more slowly, will delay the heavier body, as a result of which the combination will reduce its speed. But two bodies connected together have greater gravity than each of them separately. Thus, from the position that a heavy body moves faster than a light one, it follows that a heavy body moves slower than a light one. By reductio ad absurdum (addition to the absurd - Note by I.L. Vikentyev) Galileo proves the proposition that all bodies fall from same speed(in a vacuum).
One of Galileo's most remarkable achievements was the introduction of mathematics into practice. scientific research. The book of nature, he believes, is written in the language of mathematics, the letters of which are triangles, circles and others geometric figures. Therefore, the subject of true science can be everything that can be measured: length, area, volume, speed, time, etc., i.e. so called primary properties matter.
IN general view structure scientific method Galileo can be represented as follows.
1. Based on observational data and rough experience, an ideal experimental model is built, which is then implemented and thereby refined.
2. By repetition During the experiment, the average values of the measured quantities are displayed, to which corrections are made taking into account various disturbing factors.
3. The values obtained experimentally are the starting point for formulating a mathematical hypothesis, from which consequences are derived through logical reasoning.
4. These consequences are then tested in experiment and serve as indirect confirmation of the accepted hypothesis.
The last point expresses the essence of Galileo’s hypothetico-deductive method: a mathematical hypothesis is accepted at first as “a postulate, the absolute correctness of which is discovered later, when we become familiar with the conclusions from this hypothesis, which are in exact agreement with the data of experience.”
According to him, “for a scientific interpretation of this subject [the movement of bodies], it is necessary to first draw abstract conclusions, and having done so, check and confirm what is found in practice within the limits allowed by experience. There will be considerable benefits from this."
Chernyak V.S., “Conversations and mathematical proofs concerning two new branches of science related to mechanics and local motion” in the Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, M., “Canon+”; "Rehabilitation", 2009, p. 81.