Why was Galileo's contribution to Science so important to Western Civ.?

Question:No, this is not for a test question or anything like that. I am just curious as to why his findings are viewed as influential during this time?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: No, this is not for a test question or anything like that. I am just curious as to why his findings are viewed as influential during this time?

His astronomical observations bolstered evidence for the heliocentric theory of the solar system. This theory--also called the Copernican theory--held that the earth was not the center of the universe; instead, the planets traveled around the sun, and earth was one such planet.
He made improvements of the telescope that resulted in seeing the phases of Venus and the four largest satellites of Jupiter.
He made meticulous notes of his observations. And his understanding of what he saw was rational. To read his notes today is to read a modern scientist. Others would look at his findings and make far-fetched, and wrong, speculations about what Galileo had seen.

Galileo made six major discoveries with his telescopes. One, that the Milky Way is made of stars, ended a dispute going back at least 2000 years, along with all sorts of strange mythology.
His finding of four moons around Jupiter cast doubt on the idea that the Earth was the center of everything.
His finding of sunspots and of craters on the Moon cast doubt on the idea that objects in space were perfect and unchangeable.
His finding of the phases of Venus disproved for all time the idea that the planets and Sun go around the Earth.
All of this shook up philosophy, religion and science. Plus:
Galileo accidentally discovered the speed of human response time while trying to measure the speed of light.
He also invented modern physics while going blind and under house arrest.

Here are a couple sites that give lots of info on Galileo.
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/galtele....
http://galileo.rice.edu/