Download Galileo Galilei and Aristotle

Galileo Galilei and Aristotle
Introduction
Galileo and Aristotle were both discoverers. Both made important, but not
necessarily correct discoveries, and we all know that. To find out, comparing and
contrasting the lives of both discoverers and their works are necessary.
Aristotle was born in Stageira, Chalcidice, Greece in 384 BC. He
was trained and educated as an aristocrat when he was young.
Later, at the age of eighteen, he went to a prestigious academy (at
that time), Plato’s Academy. He left only after Plato’s death,
which was twenty years later.
Aristotle had studied almost every subject possible at that time,
and also made significant contributions to most of them. In
physical science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy,
economics, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology,
physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics,
government, metaphysics, politics, psychology,
rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, Plato (left) and Aristotle (right) in Plato’s Academy
foreign customs, literature and poetry.
Galileo Galilei was first educated in the age eight in the Camaldolese
Monastery at Vallombrosa. As a young man, he had wanted to be a priest.
He enrolled for a medical degree at the University of Pisa at his father's
urging though. He did not complete it. Instead, he studied mathematics.
“1592, he moved to the University of Padua, teaching geometry,
mechanics, and astronomy until 1610. During this period Galileo made
significant discoveries in both pure science (for example, kinematics of
motion, and astronomy) and applied science (for example, strength of
materials, and improvement of the telescope). His multiple interests
A portrait of Galileo Galilei
included the study of astrology, which in pre-modern disciplinary
practice was seen as correlated to the studies of mathematics and
astronomy.
Contributions
Although Aristotle had a lot of theories that were wrong, this is a list of claims that
include wrong and right:
He claimed that human males had more teeth than females had (wrong); massive
objects fall faster than less massive objects (wrong); he claimed that the moon was a
smooth perfect sphere (wrong); he also thought that: fire was hot and dry; earth cold
and dry; air hot and wet, water cold and wet (not all these were necessarily all true).
He also wrongly proved to the public that every other planet (including the sun)
revolved around the Earth.
Contributions made by Galileo Galilei:
Galileo improved the refracting telescope by using his own knowledge on that; he
invented and improved a Geometric and Military for gunners and surveyors to use; the
compound telescope was perfected by him; he was one of the creators to develop the
thermometer; he designed an escapement mechanism for a pendulum clock, a
vectorial model of which may be seen here; he discovered Jupiter had four moons,
and that Venus also had a similar phase; if Galileo hadn’t observed from his
microscope that planets such as Earth orbited the sun, we still might have thought that
every other planet revolved around us; he was also one of the first Europeans to
observe a sun spot; Galileo changed the belief that the moon was a perfect smooth
sphere, but was actually rough surfaced and had mountains etc. like the Earth.
Conclusion
The better discoverer was more likely to be Galileo Galilei. The main reason for this
is because he had made not as many mistakes, discovered as well as invented things
that actually worked, and has proved earlier discoverers to be wrong. If he hadn’t
discovered that the original theories made by earlier famous people were wrong or
that he invented the telescope, we would have still believed that the Earth was at the
centre of the universe, or that there were no such things such as sun spots on other
planets. We also might have still thought that the moon was a perfect sphere. Aristotle
had made some mistakes, but that was just because his period of time was very long
time ago, and had not enough sufficient technology.
Record of Sources
Step 1a: Task Definition
i
In your own words, outline the task that you have been given .
I have to write a two page report to compare and contrast the lives and
discoveries/inventions of Aristotle and Galileo.
Step 1b: Task Specifics
ii
Text Information Needed (A list of questions to be answered) .
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Where and when were they born?
Which invention/discoveries made them famous?
Were any of them scientifically trained?
What discoveries/inventions did they find/make?
Did their background affect their career?
What educational background do they have?
Had they always wanted to become discoverers/inventors?
How much did their discoveries/ inventions affect modern life as we know
it?
9 How many discoveries/inventions did find/make?
10 What reasons are reasonable enough for me to decide which
discoverer/inventor is better?
Non-text Media Needed (A list of Images, Sounds, Photos, Video, etc… to be collected)
1
2
3
4
Pictures of the inventors/discoverers
Pictures of the inventors’/discoverers’ works
Picture of Galileo Galilei’s telescope
Picture of the inventors’ schools.
Step 2: Location of sources
Location
Why will this source location be relevant to your research?
School Library
To find a book on the inventors/discoverers
Public Library
Find more ranges of books of the inventors/discoverers
School Website
To find if the History department has any information on the
discoverers/inventors
To cross reference with the information that has already been collected
Wikipedia
No
.
Step 3: SOURCES TABLES
Text Information (from sources such as Newspapers, Books, Websites, Surveys)
Source Type
Validity
Where you used
Digital
Primary/
information and why Timeliness Correctnes
/Paper
Second
Full Reference of Source
chosen?
s of source.
of source.
ary
(D or
P)
[Or why not used]
(P or
S)
Up-to-date?
Proof?
If checked, how?
T1
D
S
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Aristotle
Wikipedia: to view
what other people’s
opinion
Go to the
website and
check the
bottom of the
page.
Just cross
reference with
other sources.
T2
D
S
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Galileo
(same as above)
(same as
above)
(same as
above)
T3
T4
No.
Non-text Media (for example Pictures, Sound, Animation, Video, …)
Source Type
Where you used
Digital
Primary/
information and why
/Paper
Secondary
Full Reference of Source
chosen?
(D or P)
(P or S)
[Or why not used]
Validity
Permission to
use source.
If ‘Yes’ then provide
proof.
M1
D
S
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galile
o
M2
D
S
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristo
tle
M3
M4
Wikipedia: because the
pictures are “under the terms
of the GNU Free
Documentation License”,
not copyrighted.
(same as above)
Yes: “All text is
available under the
terms of the GNU
Free Documentation
License.”
Yes: “ All text is
available under the
terms of the GNU
Free Documentation
License.”
Step 4: Raw Sources
Use this table to make a copy of any important parts of digital media or quotes from Paper Sources that
you might use – label each (e.g. T1, M2) so you know which source each item came from
No.
Raw Dump
T1
T2
M1
M2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
i
ii
Your teacher, parents and friends should be able to understand the task by just reading your summary
Add more rows to tables as necessary