How Did Galileo Die?

Galileo died a natural death in the year 1642. He was 88 years old and was serving his life imprisonment sentence in Arcetri when he died. It was believed that he was with his student Vincenzo Viviani at the time. He had turned blind at the age of 72 and many blamed his blindness on the long hours that he had spent staring at the sun while researching its surface. The actual reasons for his blindness were cataract and glaucoma. Galileo had stood in very strong support if the Copernican ideals. It was for this reason that in the year 1633, he had been made to bow down in front of the Roman authorities and also given the life imprisonment sentence. As he grew older, the authorities allowed him to shift to his residence outside of Florence and kept him under house arrest there. Till a very long time after his death his books were banned and his writings and findings were considered deviant and false.

Add Comment

View Comments [1]

Report