Galileo's Daughter

Galileo's daughter, Maria Celeste, was not only essential to his writings but more importantly, for his survival. She was a dutiful Italian daughter who did all the chores such as cooking and laundry for Galileo. Not only did she supply her ill father with his medication but she hand-made it herself. Without her, Galileo would probably have passed on much earlier and begin to rot within his working quarters. And the amazing part is, she managed to care for her elderly father in addition to fulfilling all her duties to the Church. She lived in poor conditions yet her main concern was the well-being of Galileo. In addition to this, she was the editor of Galileo's manuscript. She took the time to edit it in order to make it publishable. Galileo would send her portions of his manuscript and once she had edited them she went send them back. She continued to spend her spare time working on this manuscript until it was finally completed. And during this time she continued to send Galileo food/medication and do his laundry and such.

Once Galileo had published his book, it did not receive good feedback. It actually angered the Church since it conflicted with their beliefs of the Sun and the Earth. Even his good friend Pope Urban VIII was angered and discontinued to support Galileo's discovery. Therefore, Galileo was brought before the inquisition. If Maria had not given her father advice to just accept what the church says for the time being, he may possibly have been sentenced to death. She was the reason why Galileo managed to change science and physics for the better.