Part 1 of Essay
was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa.” (1:1) “His father, Vincenzo Galilei, belonged to a noble family of straitened fortune.” (2:1) Galileo had an “aptitude for mathematical and mechanical pursuits, but his parents, wishing to turn him aside from studies which promised no substantial return, destined him for the medical ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... (3:1) “First of all, the theory which virtually everyone accepted at the time was the traditional theory of Aristotle, who believed that heavier objects fall more quickly than lighter ones.” (4:2) In order to prove Aristotle wrong, Galileo would perform an experiment. “It was at Pisa, of course, that the famous leaning tower might well have suggested Galileo's most famous experiment.” (4:1) “What the leaning tower of Pisa type of experiment demonstrates, when actually performed, is that Aristotle was wrong, and ....