Galileo's life spanned 78 years, from the latter part of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century.  His contemporaries included such names as the following:

scientist Johannes Keppler

poets John Donne and John Milton

artists El Greco and Rubens

mathematician Rene Descartes

physician Sir William Harvey

essayist Francis Bacon

the sculptor Bernini

His environs were the streets of Pisa,  Padua,  and Florence.  His world was limited only to the boundaries of imagination.