o Galilei made great contributions to several areas of science. The few remaining components of Aristotelian physics remaining after Kepler’s confirmation of the Copernican theory were thoroughly extinguished by Galileo Galilei. Galileo also contributed another major component of the scientific/experimental method: controlled experiments. By his experiments with a ball and incline he was able to prove that uniform force caused a uniform acceleration, not a uniform velocity, as Aristotle had believed. He also built a telescope and observed the moons orbiting Jupiter, destroying the “impenetrable spheres” (and Aristotle’s last major remaining) idea in the process.The fact that Copernicus merely picked up an old Greek idea tells us a few things about “new science.” The first being that it’s not really new at all. Since Aristotle was a Greek also, both “old” and “new” science originated in Greece. Why then was one chosen over the other? A great deal of attention is given to the fact the Church was very influential in the times of Copernicus and was very much aligned with the view of Aristotle. However, since Aristotle’s time was before the birth of Christ, the church’s influence seemed to be more of a sustaining than originating factor. Most likely the real answer is that in the time of the ancient Greeks very little was known about anywhere besides Earth. Aristotelian physics was designed to make sense of the world around them, and it seemed to make sense that their idea of the universe was centered on the Earth. In choosing the explanation that did not follow the “common sense” rule, Copernicus hinted that the new science would be based on the principles of scientific proof, rather than taking ancient texts and religious documents as the final word.With a clear hindsight view from the 21st century, we can see that the basic ideas of Chris...
