Galileo Galilei to Einstein's special theory of relativity. A biography by Galileo's pupil Vincenzo Viviani stated that Galileo had dropped balls of the same material, but different masses, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that their time of descent was independent of their mass. This was contrary to what Aristotle had taught: that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones, in direct proportion to weight. While this story has been retold in popular accounts, there is no account by Galileo himself of such an experiment, and it is generally accepted by historians that it was at most a thought experiment
Tribune of Galileo Tribune of Galileo The Tribune of Galileo () is an Neoclassic architectural addition, built to commemorate the famous Florentine scientist, Galileo Galilei and to house some of his scientific instruments. The tribune was completed in 1841 and built within the first floor of the Science Museum of La Specola in Florence. The tribune was built by orders of Leopold II (1797-1870). The House of Lorraine-Habsburg was foreign to Tuscany; and the embrace of Galileo can be seen as an attempt to co-opt local patriotism. It contains a large statue of Galileo and a series of lunettes and frescoes depicting events