How did Galileo's discovery advance science?

Answer 1

Galileo Galilei was the first scientist in an almost modern sense. He stated, mainly in his work "Dialogo sui Massimi Sistemi" (Dialogue on the Most Important Systems") the first form of the scientific method, based on a correlation of mathematical theory and experimentation.

Moreover he was the first to officially define the difference between a spiritual interpretation of the faith (and The Bible text in particular) and the science research, so to open the way to the collaboration under a scientific point of view among researchers of different faiths.

Last, but not least, he first introduced the inertia principle and the general idea that earth is not at the center of universe.

Galileo Galilei was effectively the first modern scientist, he opened the way to the scientific revolution operated by Isaac Newton with the introduction and development of classical mechanics and to the generalized use of the scientific method as a way to interpret and forecast the nature behavior.

The story of Galileo Galilei was also important under a social point of view, opening a contrast between the official Catholic philosophy and the scientific movement that underwent different phases and was completely solved only with the Second Vatican Council in 1960, when the scientific method was officially completely accepted by the Catholic Church in its own field.

In any case, many Catholic scientists operated up to the Galileo age on obtaining key scientific results, so demonstrating that official Catholic philosophy not in all cases completely coincides with the ideas more diffused among Catholic people.