One of the most important pieces of scientific study sits in Museo Galileo in Italy. It houses the original telescope that this ingenious inventor came up with. Made to a simple design Galileo theorised that the new invention of the spy glass might be able to help him see a little further. It just need a little tinkering. The solution was more glass much like a Double Glazing Company Cheltenham way I know. Have a look at them on https://www.firmfix.co.uk/windows/ for a bit more detail on that.
Galileo believed that the Earth moved around the sun and not the other way around. This was going to get him into trouble as the Roman Catholic church said it was the other way around. Seeing as how they had the inquisition and various means of torture or have you burned at her stake as a heretic if you didn’t agree this was a dangerous position to take. In fact, after he had shown it was the case that the Sun did not move he still had to recant his thoughts otherwise he was going to come to a sticky end.
Galileo was an Opera fan. He realised that by using an increased magnification like that of the opera glasses he owned, he would be able to increase the magnification of the spy glass way beyond its usual capacity. He began grinding his own new lenses. It took some time but eventually Galileo had increased the magnification by a considerable percentage and he was able to begin his research.
How did Galileo confirm his belief that the world went around the sun? Through the noble art of astronomy. His first success was looking at the moon. He found it was not smooth as was thought but was, in a fact, a crater strewn mess. After this he began a study some of Jupiter’s moons and found that they also moved around the sky quite happily without hitting any one. Galileo is by no means the first Astronomer, but he is still the most prominent on the scene. This was because he made sure he kept and recorded all of his observations in a very scientific manner. Because he kept solid notes for future generations to read and digest we know some much about the Solar System and all that entails.
He ended up blind. One of the subjects he choose to look at through his telescope was the Sun itself. He was on the lookout for Sunspots that he had already noticed before and wanted to further investigate them Not a good way to protect your retinas.