On this Day - Galileo was born

Galileo was born on this day in 1564.

But did you know that the Italian astronomer and physicist - who made the first effective use of the refracting telescope (he did not invent the telescope - that was invented by Hans Lippershey in 1608) as well as discovering the law of falling bodies and the pendulum and getting into hot water with the Catholic Church - was the first to discover the four largest moons of Jupiter. Named the Galilean moons, they were discovered by Galileo Galilei on January 7th 1610.

More details on the moons can be found at wikipedia.org and on Galileo himself at wikipedia.org

Jupiter has at least 63 known moons, though the Galilean moons are the largest.

Galileo was also immortalised in the famous Queen song, Bohemian Rhapsody

"I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango.
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me.
(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, Galileo figaro.
Magnifico. I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me."