Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas, 25 Activities
FOREWORD By Buzz Aldrin HEN GALILEO first turned his newly invented telescope toward the heavens he saw the vast ness of the universe He discovered distant stars mountains on the moon and spots on the sun His work extended our knowledge of astronomy by leaps and bounds Galileo's belief that the earth revolved around the sun was controversial at the time but his stubborn insistence on the truth laid the foundation for the modern science of astronomy When Neil Armstrong and I set foot on the moon in 1969 it was truly a triumph of science The revo lution started by Galileo had entered a wonderful new phase Instead of simply gazing into space we were now traveling there Instead of looking at moon rocks we were touching them I have always believed that space exploration holds great potential The exploration of space will not only help us understand the science of how the universe works but it will also help us understand our own planet and our selves Galileo was a genius whose curiosity was his guid ing passion We should all be inspired by his thirst
for knowledge If we strive toward quenching our own thirst for knowledge we will no doubt send astronauts to Mars and beyond Galileo’s life story is a wonderful lesson in genius and persistence Though the events in this book took place 400 years ago they are still very current With every small step we take into space we should remember that in Galileo's time just looking into a telescope was a brave step Nothing is impossible if we have the courage to turn our dreams into reality and the will to satisfy our never ending curiosity about the heavens above Buzz Aldrin Ph D Colonel U S Air Force Retired Gemini XII astronaut 1966 Apollo XI astronaut 1969 Born in 1930 Buzz Aldrin attended the U S Military
Academy at West Point He began his career with the Air Force and flew 62 combat missions in the Korean War He was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA to be an astronaut in 1963 In 1966 he participated in the Gemini XII mission where he orbited the earth for four days In 1969 he joined Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon On July 20 1969 he became the second man to walk on the moon Aldrin earned a Ph D degree from the Mass achusetts Institute of Technology and helped NASA develop methods for space rendezvous and docking of vehicles He has written several books including Return to Earth about the Apollo 11 mission and several science fiction novels Buzz Aldrin on the moon
AUTHOR S NOTE N THIS BOOK I have tried to give readers a broad pic ture of Galileo’s life discussing his most important scientific discoveries along with the struggles of his personal and public life My goal was to give readers insight into the man and the world in which he lived Throughout the book I have used the text of letters to and from Galileo Luckily much of Galileo's corre spondence has been preserved Some of these have been borrowed from mid to late 19th century books on Galileo such as The Story of Galileo Karl von Gebler's Galileo Galilei and the Roman Curia Philarête Chasle's Galileo Galilei sa vie son proces et ses contempo rains and Mary Allan Olney’s Private Life of Galileo For some excerpts I have taken the original Italian directly from Opere di Galileo Galilei or from Vincenzo Viviani's Racconto historico della vita di Signor Galileo Galilei Nobile Fiorentino and translated them into Eng lish In all cases the intent is to provide the reader with the best understanding of Galileo's life and times It is often hard to present in English the force ful yet melodic sense of Galileo's original Italian Any text in is an explanation I have supplied about the information given in the quotes There are a great deal of scientific and historical terms and personal names mentioned in the book To
