Famous Watchmakers | XVI | Galileo Galilei (dit Galilée)

Century

Galileo Galilei (dit Galilée)

Galileo Galilei　

1564-1642
Italian physician and astronomer.
A follower of the ideas of Copernicus.
Founder of mechanics as a science.

Circa 1583
at the age of nineteen
Discovered isochronism of the oscillating pendulum: duration of oscillations independent of the amplitude. In reality, the duration slightly increases in cases of great amplitudes, which Christiaan Huygens discovered.
Designed a pendulum clock with special escapement, a “duplex” type (independent under-dial work and impulse). He made progress with respect to the verge escapement of the first mechanical watches.

1641
Galileo passed on his clock concept to his son, Vincenzio who started construction, in 1649, but his death, in the same year, meant the work was never completed.