Galileo was born in Florence on the 15th of February 1564, nearing the end of the Renaissance, it was a time of discovery with several other prominent scientist living around this time, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Issac Newton, and Nicolas Copernicus. This meant that most new scientific theories were accepted, and many great thinkers could work on those theories. I.e. this was a much better time to be a scientist then the times before the Renaissance.
His major contributions to science include his improved telescope from the original design which allowed him to see craters on the moon and the rings of Saturn. He also was able to prove that the earth rotates around the sun. Even though this was a time of learning this theory directly attacked Christianity. This made him into the enemy of the church, meaning that much of his life's works were hampered by the church fighting against his claims. This would be a problem to many scientist during the Renaissance and to the scientist in the following centuries.
Galileo came up with the basic principle of relativity, the laws of physics are the same in for anything that is moving at a constant speed in a straight line, no matter its speed or direction. Therefor there is no absolute motion or complete stop. This provided the basic framework for Newton's laws of motion and is central to Einstein's theory of relativity.
While Galileo's theories and inventions don't directly affect us today many of his theories helped influence the scientists that followed him.
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