Born: Feb 15 1564 in Pisa (now Italy) Died: Jan 8 1642 in Areetri Gaileo Galilei's father, Vincenzo Galilei (1520-1591), who described himself as a nobleman of Florence, was a professional musician. He carried out experiments on strings to support his musical theories. Galileo studied medicine at the university of Pisa, but his real interests were always in mathematics and natural philosophy. He is chiefly remembered for his work on free fall, his use of the telescope and his employment of experimentation. After a spell teaching mathematics, first privately in Florence and then at the university of Pisa, in 1592 Galileo was