Who is Galileo from Coming of Age in the Milky Way and what is their importance?

Galileo advocated Copernican astronomy, though he was more aggressive than Copernicus in his attempt to win approval for his work. Clerics believes that Galileo's work was offensive to God, whereas, scholars were fearful he would be proven more intelligent than they were. Eventually, he was arrested for his theories and forced to spend the remaining years of his life under house arrest.