Author(s): Philip Steele

Social studies

Born near Pisa and educated by monks in Florence, Galileo Galilei showed an early aptitude for science and mathematics and a family trait that led him to question ideas that everybody else took for granted. His invention of the telescope, and his observations and discoveries revolutionised the view of the universe and made Galileo a leading figure in the scientific world. It also made him a number of powerful enemies, especially with the Church, as his theories, such as the Earth moving around the Sun, so obviously contradicted their beliefs. Despite his own devout Christianity (two of his daughters were nuns), he was arrested, tried and sentenced to house arrest.
The first of a new series that also chronicles the lives of Gandhi, Mandela and Elizabeth I, it is written for 9- to 14-year-olds and is beautifully presented.