This is the original chair (with a marble bust) where Galileo Galilei taught from when he was at the University of Padova. It is in the ante-room of the Aula Magna of the Bo, the oldest university building. This year it's the Galilean year in Padova, where Galileo experimented the first telescope on Dutch design, and discovered the satellites of Jupiter and the Canals of Mars. In the background there are the stylized portraits of some famous people who studied in Padova from all over Europe. Galileo (1564-1642's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime. In 1592, he moved to the University of Padua, teaching geometry, mechanics, and astronomy until 1610. During this period Galileo made significant discoveries in both pure science (for example, kinematics of motion, and astronomy) and applied science (for example, strength of materials, improvement of the telescope). His multiple interests included the study of astrology, which in pre-modern disciplinary practice was seen as correlated to the studies of mathematics and astronomy. On 25 August 1609, he demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers (hence the anniversary in 2009). His telescopes were a profitable sideline. He could sell them to merchants who found them useful both at sea and as items of trade. He published his initial telescopic astronomical observations in March 1610 in a brief treatise entitled Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger). After 1610, when he began supporting heliocentrism publicly, he met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics, and two of the latter eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition early in 1615. Although he was cleared of any offence at that time, the Catholic Church nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture" in February 1616, and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it—which he promised to do. When he later defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Thank you for your kind comments.