Galileo and the moon

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Description: To write a short piece for a newspaper aimed at a non-scientific audience, showing why Galileo’s work was so important. ‘Galileo had discovered many wonderful things which are very useful, even in the present life. At 20 while in a cathedral Galileo investigated the time it takes a lamp to swing using his very own heartbeat as a timer, and he realised that the each swing took the exact same time. In addition he invented the thermometer and a military compass to aim cannonballs which still are useful and ingenious. He did not invent the
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telescope but produced his own and used it to investigate the Moon and realised that it was not as smooth as first though, but full of craters and rough surface. At first he was rejected, and a mathematician stated that the moon was covered in ‘invisible, transparent, smooth crystal.’ Also Galileo said that the Moon like the Earth consisted of valleys and Mountains and that the dark spots were created by the Sun producing shadows. Then using his 30x power telescope Galileo focused on Jupiter and found three stars all in a straight line to each other. However Galileo was ...

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The report is very simply written, but the spelling and grammar is generally correct throughout. They could have presented the article as if it was in a newspaper, added images and diagrams, and used more complex vocabulary. The article feels occasionally disjointed, like a list of achievements rather than a discussion of his life and the importance of his work. It would also have been a good idea to use a wider variety of sources, which would also have enabled them to gather more information on specific achievements.

The author has not analysed Galileo's achievements in much depth - perhaps they could have discussed how relevant they are to modern-day life, or how controversial at the time given the religious society of the day. However, they have discussed an instance where he was wrong and mentioned the correct theory ( by Keplar). It would have been better to focus on one or two key achievements and discuss them in more depth, with reference to the social context, knowledge of scientists at the time, and how it shows the importance of his work (by analysing the affects on society and modern physics).

The author has produced a short, interesting article about Galileo and his achievements, as required for the question. There is very little scientific content (but the article is meant to be aimed at a non-scientific audience, so this is acceptable), and at times it feels like a list of achievements with some interesting anecdotes. This may appeal to the target audience but may not be good enough for science coursework.