pisa

PISA

Here you see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, the most popular tourist attraction in the city. Begun in 1173, the eight-story round tower is 55 m (180 ft) tall and 16 m (52 ft) in diameter at the base. The tower began leaning almost before it was completed and construction was delayed almost 100 years while attempts were made to straighten it. The tower was finally competed in the 1300's, but the lean was never corrected. In fact, the rate of the lean is said to be increasing at a rate of about 1 mm (about 1/25 of an inch) per year.

One of the more popular myths concerning Galileo is that he conducted his experiments with gravity and the relative speed of falling objects from this tower.

If you want to find out everything about the Tower of Pisa, click here.

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This is a view of the cathedral
in Pisa. It was here that Galileo first noticed the motion of the swinging lamp which hung from the ceiling of the church. No matter the size of the swing, the amount of time it took to complete was always the same. This observation led Galileo to apply the same principle to the construction
of an astronomical clock
some fifty years later!