Galileo and the Battle for Truth
For eighteen centuries after the time of Archimedes no inventions of importance were made. Men sought for truth where truth could not be found. They looked within their mouldy manuscripts and asked, "What do the great philosophers say ought to happen?" instead of looking at nature and asking, "What does happen?" And when a man arose who dared to doubt the authority of the old masters and turn to nature to find out the truth, all the weapons at the command of the old school were hurled against him.
Let us, at this distance, blame neither the one side nor the other. The conflict was inevitable. It was an accident of history that the brunt of the attack fell upon a man born in Italy in 1564, and that the battle was fought chiefly in the "Eternal City," from which centuries before had marched the legions that conquered the world.
The boy, Galileo, who was to become the central figure of the great conflict, was talented in many ways. In lute-playing his skill excelled that of his father, who was one of the noted musicians of his day. His skill in drawing was such that noted artists submitted their work to him for criticism. He wrote essays on the works of Dante and other classical writers. He amused his boy companions by constructing toy machines which, though ingenious, did not always work.
His preference was for mechanics, but, as this subject offered little prospect of profitable work, he took up the study of medicine in accordance with his father's wishes.
In his eighteenth year he entered the University of Pisa. Here he found men who refused to think for themselves, but decided every question by referring to what the ancient philosophers said. Galileo could not endure such slavish submission to authority. So strongly did he assert himself that he was nicknamed "The Wrangler," and, by his wrangling, he lost a scholarship in the university.
He neglected his medical studies and secretly studied mathematics. His father, learning of this, consented to his becoming a mathematician. Thus he followed his bent, though it seemed to lead directly to poverty.
The Pendulum Clock
It was while a student at the University of Pisa that he discovered a law of pendulums which makes possible our pendulum clocks. While at his devotions in the cathedral, he observed the swinging of the bronze lamp which had been drawn back for lighting. Timing its swinging by means of his pulse, the only timepiece in his possession, he found that the time of one swing remained the same, though the length of the swing grew smaller and smaller. This discovery led to his invention of an instrument for physicians' use in timing the pulse. About fifty years later he invented the pendulum clock (Fig. 2).