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Born: Feb 15 1564 in Pisa (now Italy) 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 med ....

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.... of a New Star (now known as "Kepler's supernova") in 1604. In a personal letter written to Kepler (1571 - 1630) in 1598, Galileo had stated that he was a Copernican (believer in the Theories of Copernicus). No public sign of this belief was to appear until many years later. In the summer of 1609, Galileo heard about a spyglass that a Dutchman had shown -1- in Venice. From these reports, and using his own technical skills as a mathematicians and a workman, Galileo made a series of telescopes whose optical performance was much better than that of the Dutch instrument. The astronomical discoveries he made with his ....