Galileo's early studies at the University of Pisa were in medicine, but he was soon drawn to mathematics and physics. At age 19, he discovered (and, subsequently, verified) the isochronal nature of the pendulum when, using his pulse, he timed the oscillations of a swinging lamp in Pisa's cathedral and found that it remained the same for each swing regardless of the swing's amplitude. He soon became known through his invention of a hydrostatic balance and for his treatise on the center of gravity of solid bodies. While teaching at the University of Pisa (1589–1592), he initiated his experiments concerning the laws of bodies in motion that brought results so contradictory to the accepted teachings of Aristotle that strong antagonism was aroused. He found that bodies do not fall with velocities proportional to their weights. The story in which Galileo is said to have dropped weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa is apocryphal, but he did find that the path of a projectile is a parabola and is credited with conclusions that anticipated Newton's laws of motion (e.g. the notion of inertia). Among these is what is now called Galilean relativity, the first precisely formulated statement about properties of space and time outside three-dimensional geometry.
Galileo's early studies at the University of Pisa were in medicine but he was soon drawn to mathematics and physics At age 19 he discovered (and subsequently verified) the isochronal nature of the pendulum when using his pulse he timed the oscillations of a swinging lamp in Pisa's cathedral and found that it remained the same for each swing regardless of the swing's amplitude He soon became known through his invention of a hydrostatic balance and for his treatise on the center of gravity of solid bodies While teaching at the University of Pisa (1589–1592) he initiated his experiments concerning the laws of bodies in motion that brought results so contradictory to the accepted teachings of Aristotle that strong antagonism was aroused He found that bodies do not fall with velocities proportional to their weights The story in which Galileo is said to have dropped weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa is apocryphal but he did find that the path of a projectile is a parabola and is credited with conclusions that anticipated Newton's laws of motion (eg the notion of inertia) Among these is what is now called Galilean relativity the first precisely formulated statement about properties of space and time outside three-dimensional geometry