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
Galileo Galilei mondo) in 1632. Despite taking care to adhere to the Inquisition's 1616 instructions, the claims in the book favouring Copernican theory and a non Geocentric model of the solar system led to Galileo being tried and banned on publication. Despite the publication ban, Galileo published his "Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences" ("Discorsi e Dimostrazioni Matematiche, intorno a due nuove scienze") in 1638 in Holland, outside the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Galileo's main written works are as follows: Footnotes Citations Biography Galileo and the Church Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei (; 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642)