Galileo Galilei
Born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy, Galileo Galilei contributed monumentally to scientific understanding in physics, mechanics and astronomy. He invented many mechanical devices, most notably a telescope with great enough magnification to examine the moon and planets. A professor of mathematics, he eventually was granted a post in the Court of the Medici family of Florence. Galileo fathered three children, enjoying a particularly close relationship with his eldest daughter despite her cloistered life as a Franciscan nun.

Galileo’s defense of the Copernican system of the universe, in which the earth is shown to revolve around the sun, brought him both recognition and peril. In the Counter-Reformationist climate of the time, the Catholic church judged the theory to be heretical. In 1633 Galileo was called to Rome regarding his book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Despite his lifelong faithfulness to the Church, he was judged a heretic and spent the remaining nine years of his life under house arrest.