Galileo Galilei is considered the father of modern science, and was born in 1564 in Pisa.  He was sent to university to study medicine and philosophy, but it was math and science that he loved.  He loved to measure things, and he invented the thermometer.  His investigation of the effects of gravity led to his famous experiment at the leaning tower of Pisa.  He designed and built the first space telescope, and with it he mapped the craters of the moon, discovered the rings of Saturn and the 4 largest moons of Jupiter. When he published his ideas and findings in 1632, the church tried him for heresy and he was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his days.  He was saved from execution by recanting his view, but he was said to have muttered, at the end of his trial "and yet it moves"!