Sixteenth century Italy produced Galileo, a genius who marked the world with his studies and hypotheses about mathematical, physical, and astronomical truths. His father, musician Vincenzio Galilei said, тАЬTruth is not found behind a manтАЩs reputation. Truth appears only when the answers to questions are searched out by a free mind. This is not the easy path in life but it is the most rewarding.тАЭ Galileo challenged divine law and the physics of Aristotle, and questioned everything in search of truths. And it was through this quest for truth that he was able to establish a structure for modern science.
Sidney Rosen (1916тАУ2005) was born in Boston and graduated with a bachelorтАЩs degree from the University of Massachusetts and a PhD from Harvard University. He gained tenure at the University of Illinois, where he taught in the astronomy department for nearly forty years. His first popular childrenтАЩs book was about Galileo. Among his many contributions to childrenтАЩs literature since, Rosen authored a number of illustrated childrenтАЩs books, such as Where Does the Moon Go?, Can You Catch a Falling Star?, Which Way to the Milky Way?, and How Far Is a Star? With his wife, Dorothy Rosen, he coauthored a mystery series featuring Belle Appleman, a Jewish immigrant from BostonтАЩs West End.