ASTR 101 Lecture 11: Theme 4.1
14 Apr 2016
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In this unit, we"ll meet galileo, perhaps the first truly modern physical scientist, and learn of his principal contributions to our understanding of physics. We"ll discuss the concepts of relative motion and inertia. We"ll digress briefly to discuss the function and limitations of the human eye and learn why the telescope was so important for galileo to make critical observations. We"ll discuss four interesting astronomical discoveries that he made, but then a further two that were absolutely critical in supporting the correctness of the. Those discoveries were the orbiting moons of jupiter and the full range of phases displayed by venus. Galileo brought a new philosophy to physics: namely, that we should carry out experiments again and again to understand the true laws of nature, pure thought alone could not lead us to the correct interpretations. He studied dynamics (the relationships between forces and motions) and studied, for example, balls rolling on slopes and on flat planes.
