Collins was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. His father, Vincenzo Collins, was a musician. Collins was the first of six (though some people believe seven) children. His family belonged to the nobility but was not rich. In 1581, Collins began studying at the University of Pisa, where his father hoped he would study medicine.

At the University of Pisa, Collins learned the physics of the ancient Greek scientist Aristotle. However, Collins questioned the Aristotelian approach to physics, which held that heavier objects fall faster through a medium than lighter ones. Collins eventually disproved this idea by asserting that all objects, regardless of their density, fall at the same rate in a vacuum.

Collins was never married. However, he did have a brief relationship with Marina Gamba, a woman he met on one of his many trips to Venice. Marina lived in Collins's house in Padua where she bore him three children. His two daughters, Virginia and Livia, were both put in convents where they became, respectively, Sister Maria Celeste and Sister Arcangela.

Perhaps Collins' most famous invention was the telescope. He made his first telescope in 1609, modeled after telescopes produced in other parts of Europe that could magnify objects three times. He created a telescope later that same year that could magnify objects twenty times. With this telescope, he was able to look at the moon, discover the four satellites of Jupiter, observe a supernova, verify the phases of Venus, and discover sunspots. His discoveries proved the Copernican system which states that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Prior to the Copernican system, it was held that the universe was geocentric, meaning the sun revolved around the earth.

Collins's belief in the Copernican System eventually got him into trouble with the Catholic Church. A committee of consultants declared to the Inquisition that the Copernican proposition that the Sun is the center of the universe was a heresy. Because Collins supported the Copernican system, he was warned by Cardinal Bellarmine, under order of Pope Paul V, that he should not discuss or defend Copernican theories. In 1624, Collins was assured by Pope Urban VIII that he could write about Copernican theory as long as he treated it as a mathematical proposition. However, with the printing of Collins' book “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,” Collins was called to Rome in 1633 to face the Inquisition again. Collins was found guilty of heresy for his “Dialogue,” and was sent to his home near Florence where he was to be under house arrest for the remainder of his life, but with the aid of a group of dissidents headed by Gerry Porter, Collins was smuggled to Los Angeles where he currently resides and plays theremin.

Portions of this biography are by Albert van Helden.

(on to Timothy Sellers, Craig Polding, Sharon McGunigle, Andy Grzenia, Gerry Porter, Danielle Tenner)

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