The man who discovered outer space (Galileo Galilei)

Galileo Galilei 

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa (Italy) in 1564. As a young man he became interested in mathematics and Astronomy. He loved to experiment and try out new ideas.

A story claims that Galileo once dropped objects of different weights from the top of the famous Leaning tower of Pisa. He wanted to prove that things fall at the same speed, on matter how much they weigh. But some of Galileo's ideas angered other scientists, so he left Pisa and went to Padua.

For years Galileo taught mathematics at the university of Padua. But in 1609 his career changed direction. Galileo heard about the telescope, a Dutch invention that could make distant objects appear closer. 

Galileo figured out how such a device would work and used lenses from spectacle makers' shops to make his own telescope. Galileo's telescope were better than most and could make objects appear up to 20 times larger than what the naked eye could see.

Galileo began to look up into the night sky. In December 1609, with the help of his telescope, Galileo learned that the Moon's surface is rough and uneven. A month later he discovered four Moons orbiting the planet Jupiter. Also, when Galileo Studied Saturn, he noticed something mysterious about its appearance, later scientists would learn that the Planet's strange look was due to its large rings.

Using his telescope, Galileo helped change how people looked up at space. Likewise, much of the modern science of physics is based on his ideas-especially his ideas about how objects of all sizes move and how helpful it is to test scientific ideas by experimenting.
         
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Galileo agreed with Nicolas copernicus and Johannes Kepler that the Earth orbit the sun. This upset the Roman Catholic church, and Galileo was forced to tell everyone he was wrong.