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The Leaning Tower of Pisa
At the time that Galileo Galilei arrived at the University, there was some debath that had started up on one of Arisitotle's "laws" of nature, that heavier objects fell faster than lighter objects. Aristotke's word had been accepted as the gospel truth. And ther had also been a few attempts to actually test the conclusions of Aristotle by conducting an accurate experiment. According to the legend, Galileo Galilei had decided to try. He needed to be able to drop various ovjects from an unimaginable height. The perfect building was right at hand; the Tower of Pisa, 54meters tall. Galileo had climbed up to the height of the building carrying a variety of balls of varying size and weight. Finally, to test, he dropped them off of the top. They had all landed at the base of the building at the same time.(The legend had said that the demonstration was witnessed by a huge crowd of students and professors) Aristotle was wrong. However, Galilei continued to behave rudely to his colleagues. Which was NOT a good move for a junior member of the faculty. Once, he had said to students, "Men are like wine flasks." or "... look at... bottles with the handsome labels. When you tase them, they are full of air or perfume or rouge. These are bottles fit onle to pee into!" Not suprisingly, the University of Pisa chose not to renew Galileo Galilei's contract. | |