Tuscany: Florence and Pisa

Now we meet Galileo as a young man, already committed to mathematics and to the new astronomy (Figure 1) . Galileo grew up in Tuscany. Galileo’s ancestors were Florentines. His father moved to Pisa for financial reasons, and Galileo was born there in 1564 (Figure 2) . The family returned to Florence when Galileo was ten. (Figure 3)

Galileo entered the University of Pisa in 1581 to study medicine (Figure 4) . He returned to Florence in 1585 without receiving a degree. Galileo came back to Pisa to teach mathematics, giving his inaugural lecture in 1589. (Figure 5) Galileo did not get on well with the Aristotelian faculty, and resigned his post in 1592, returning again to Florence.

Exhibit credit: Kerry Magruder, with the assistance of , Marilyn B. Ogilvie, Duane H. D. Roller.