2 euro Italy 2014, 450th Anniversary of the birth of Galileo Galilei

2 Euro Commemorative Coins Italy 2014, Galileo Galilei





Italian commemorative 2 euro coins - 450th Anniversary of the birth of Galileo Galilei (born in 1564)


Commemorative 2 euro coins from Italy

Description: Head of Galileo Galilei from the painting of Justus Sustermans, 1536 (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi); around, upside, GALILEO GALILEI; on the right, superimposed letters R (monogram of the Mint of Rome)/astronomic telescope/ C.M. (monogram of the Author Claudia Momoni); on the left, superimposed letters of the Italian Republic monogram “RI”; in exergue 1564-2014. The coin’s outer ring depicts the twelve stars of the European flag.



Reverse: left from the coin centre face value: 2, on the right inscription: EURO; in the background of the inscription a map of Europe; in the background of the map vertically six parallel lines ending on both sides with five-pointed stars (the reverse is common for all euro coins)

Issuing volume:  million coins

Date of issue:  2014
Face value:     2 euro
Diameter:        25.75 mm
Thickness:       2.2 mm
Weight:            8.5 gr
BiAlloy (Nk/Ng), ring Cupronickel (75% copper - 25% nickel clad on nickel core), center Nickel brass

Galileo Galilei 
Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), often known mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science". His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honour), and the observation and analysis of sunspots. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass and other instruments. Galileo's championing of heliocentrism was controversial within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was false and contrary to scripture, placing works advocating the Copernican system on the index of banned books and forbidding Galileo from advocating heliocentrism. Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII, thus alienating not only the Pope but also the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Holy Office, then found "vehemently suspect of heresy", was forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he wrote one of his finest works, Two New Sciences, in which he summarised the work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.