Who significantly contributed the most to science and technology?
Upon trying to determine who made the most significant contributions to science and technology, Galileo Galilei stands out as a defining figure. Galileo is often referred to as the “father of modern astronomy” and as the “father of modern physics”. (New Mexico Museum of Space History, 2023) Galileo’s philosophy in being observant, conducting controlled experiments
and analyzing data, laid the groundwork in pioneering the scientific method. His newly created approach would soon lead him in trouble for taking a provocative, yet correct, stance on astronomy. His many achievements can be attributed to challenging the status quo in his time. For that reason, I believe he remains a pivotal person to the contributions to science and technology.
The scientific revolution began in the 1500s and started to challenge the existing notions of the Ptolemaic and Aristotelian views of the universe. (Brush, Osler, & Spencer, 2019) Even Galileo himself taught these accepted astronomical theories in the beginning of his career. (New
Mexico Museum of Space History, 2023) Upon learning of Copernicus’s heliocentric model, Galileo took it upon himself to study the skies discovering our moon’s surface is rough and uneven, the fours moons that orbit Jupiter, Venus’s phases and observing spots on the surface of the Sun. These revelations, backed up by his observations, provided evidence for the heliocentric model. This eventually led Galileo to inquisition by the Catholic church, which he was found guilty of heresy and imprisoned for the remainder of his life. This was not first time that Galileo challenged the status quo. While teaching at the University of Pisa he performed an experiment in which he dropped objects of varying weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to determine the speed of a heavy object is not proportionate to its own weight, directly
