ABSTRACT
In Galileo Galilei’s time there were dramatic advances in both mathematics and science. They did not yet come from universities but instead from the courts of kings and princes. In mathematics, decimal fractions came into use so that one could write 1.375 instead of 1. In Padua Galileo was at first short of money because, among other things, he had to provide a dowry for his sister. Academic standards were very high, and the environment offered Galileo ample scope for developing his ideas. Galileo resumed his studies with Valumbrosian monks in Florence but no longer as a novice. It seems that during lessons he was constantly questioning what was being said which earned him the nickname ‘The Wrangler’. Galileo’s famous conflict with the Church started one morning in 1613 in a conversation that involved Cosimo de’ Medici and his mother the Grand Duchess Christina. Galileo’s belief in the heliocentric theory alarmed Dominicans.
