Galileo Galilei was a renowned Italian scientist born on February 15, 1564 who made immense contributions to the field of physics and astronomy despite facing oppression from the Catholic Church. Some of his most significant discoveries included observing the phases of Venus, the mountains and craters on the moon, and four of Jupiter's moons. While the Church forced him to accept their geocentric view of the universe, his model of a heliocentric solar system was proven correct. To this day, he is remembered as a scientific hero and prophet who expanded human understanding of the natural world through mathematics and observation.