The Museo Galileo in Florence contains one of the richest scientific collections in the world, begun by Cosimo I de' Medici during the 16th century. The museum exhibits Galileo’s original instruments, thermometers, microscopes and meteorological instruments.
Galileo's discoveries about the Moon, Jupiter's moons, Venus, and sunspots supported the idea that the Sun - not the Earth - was the center of the Universe, as was commonly believed at the time. Galileo's work laid the foundation for today's modern space probes and telescopes
Galileo was confirmed in his belief, which he had probably held for decades but which had not been central to his studies, that the Sun is the centre of the universe and that Earth is a planet, as Copernicus had argued. Galileo’s conversion to Copernicanism would be a key turning point in the Scientific Revolution.