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
Italian submarine Galileo Galilei on the "Galileo Galilei" failed, greatly affecting the accuracy of shooting. "Moonstone" also moved too fast for the submarine's crew to aim their cannons effectively. After about ten minutes "Galileo Galilei" was hit for the first time, wounding commander Nardi and killing several people around him. Shortly thereafter, the bow cannon was hit killing the gun crew including second in command. The cannon continued shooting, however, under command of Ensign Mazzucchi. The aft cannon soon jammed, and then another salvo from "Moonstone" killed all those on the conning tower including Nardi. The bow cannon continued shooting until arrived at the