GALILEE, SEA OF

(32° 47’ N., 35° 38’ E.), Sea of Tiberias, Lake of Tabariyeh or Gennesaret, lake in N. Palestine; length, c. 14 miles, and half as broad; lying almost 700 ft. below sea level, and situated at bottom of volcanic basin. River Jordan enters from N.; W.-side has good vegetation, but N. and E. sides are bare and rocky; figures largely in Bible as Sea of G.; formerly the| ancient cities of Tiberias, Magdala, Capernaum, lay round it. astronomer; b. Pisa; his f., a nobleman of Florence, procured him an excellent education in lit. and the arts, and in 1581 he entered the Univ. of Pisa. When nineteen G. investigated the laws of the oscillation of the pendulum, which he subsequently applied in the measurement of time. In 1589 he was made prof. of Math’s in the Univ. of Pisa, and three years later filled a similar office in Padua, where he continued eighteen years, his lectures gaining for him a European reputation. He invented the type of telescope known by his name, and with the aid of his later and much-improved instruments made many remarkable observations. He noted the irregularity of the moon’s surface, and showed how the heights of the mountains could be determined from their shadows. From his resolution of certain nebulee into individual stars he concluded that the Milky Way might be similarly resolved with a telescope of higher power. His most remarkable discovery was that of the four largest satellites of Jupiter. He detected sun-spots, and inferred from their motion the rotation of the sun and the inclination of its axis to the plane of the ecliptic. In 1610 Cosimo II., Grand-Duke of Tuscany, app. him grand-ducal mathematician and philosopher. His increased leisure G. devoted to further investigations of natural phenomena and the publication of numerous treatises. He brought fresh evidence in support of the Copernican theory by the discovery of the varying phases of Mercury, Venus, and Mars. In his later years he became more and more involved in controversy. Twice he was compelled by the Church to renounce his views on the Copernican system and philosophy, and to abstain from defending or teaching it. Domestic troubles and disease marred the last years of his life. In 1637 he became quite blind, though just previously he had discovered the diurnal libration of the moon, and seems to have known something of the libration in longitude. He died the year Newton was born, and was buried in church of Santa Croce, Florence.