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Born: Feb 15 1564 in Pisa (now Italy) Died: Jan 8 1642 in Areetri Gaileo Galilei's father, Vincenzo Galilei (1520-1591), who described himself as a nobleman of Florence, was a professional musician. He carried out experiments on strings to support his musical theories. Galileo studied medicine at the university of Pisa, but his real interests were always in mathematics and natural philosophy. He is chiefly remembered for his work on free fall, his use of the telescope and his …

…he found it possible to write up his studies on motion and the strength of his evidence. The book Discourses on two new sciences, was smuggled out of Italy and published in Leiden in the Netherlands in 1638. Galileo wrote most of his later works in vernacular, probably to distance himself from the conventional learning of university teachers. However, his books were translated into Latin for the international market, and they proved to be immensely influential.