#7 – Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)

Galileo was an Italian mathematician, physicist, astronomer and philosopher. A few of his main achievements were improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations. He accomplished telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, and observed and analyzed, among others, the sunspots. He also invented an improved military compass and is widely known for his fight for heliocentrism (the sun centered solar system model).