Galileo Pisa 1564 - Arcetri, Florence 1642 Galileo was born in Pisa in 1564. Did you know that he made a telescope and discovered the four bright satellites of Jupiter? He had observed that the moon's surface was marked by valleys and mountains, that Saturn has a unique form and he detected the phases of Venus. Galileo is also known for his battle with the Church. They forced him to retract his theories and state that the Earth was the center of the universe. He agreed with the philosophy that the planets revolved around the sun. The church did not recognize Galileo until more than more then 300 years after his death. He made his first scientific contribution to science when he was only 20 years of age. He discovered the law of the pendulum by observing a great lamp swing hanging from the ceiling of a cathedral in Pisa. He timed the motions of the lamp with his pulse beat and noticed that each took the same amount of time. This idea was later used on patients. He is most famous for his many experiments in motion. It is believed that Galileo dropped two objects of unequal weights from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to see which one would hit the ground the fastest and they both landed at around the same time. This is known as the Law of Falling Bodies.