was born on February 15, 1564 in Pisa.” (1:1) “His father, Vincenzo Galilei, belonged to a noble family of straitened fortune.” (2:1) Galileo had an “aptitude for mathematical and mechanical pursuits, but his parents, wishing to turn him aside from studies which promised no substantial return, destined him for the medical profession.” (2:1) “But all was in vain, and at an early age the youth had to be left to follow the bent of his native genius, which speedily paved him in the very first rank of natural philosophers.” (2:1) Hi ....