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Galileo was a successful scientist and mathmetician. He completed studies and experiments on topics such as mechanics, astronomy, and mathematics. Galileo has contributed so many inventions to the world which qualifies him as a very important person from history. I choose to explore Galileo because of that fact. Also because I find it interesting what he accomplished in his life. In this review, I will evaluate three websites on the life and works of Galileo Galilei. They include Galileo Galilei, The Catholic Encyclopedia, and The Galileo Project.

All three websites are different sources of information. The first site is an IMSS Multimedia Catalogue, which is a biography on Galileo. I could not find any other sources of information attributed from this website. Which I find hard to give it much credibility, even though it provided very good information. The next website is a primary source in itself. The Catholic Encyclopedia website is a computerized encyclopedia. This site includes other primary source such as quotes from people. This site is written just as if your were going to the library and looking in an encyclopedia for information. Or even if you look in a textbook. The Galileo Project was developed from students and professors from Rice University. This site gave an outstanding list of bibliography sources. Albert Van Helden, the professor in charge, was responsible for the written material presented in the site. The list seemed to go on forever of sources used to create this site. Most of the sources were books about Galileo and his experiments which are secondaru

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sources. One example of a primary source used are books written by Galileo himself entitled Saggiatore(The Assayer) and Dialogue on the two chief world systems. This site has very good credibility because it used so many different sources of information. It is quit obvious that the students who created this site did their research extremely well.

These websites were created to provide people with information on Galileo. The Catholic Encyclopedia is intended for students as is all encyclopedias. However this site, in my opinion, is geared more toward students and adults of higher learning. A middle or even early high schoolers would find this site a bit overwhelming. I personally did not like this website. As I was reading this, I found it hard to follow. The information given and how it is written was over my head at times. I could not understand a lot of words which makes the information hard to use. Another factor which made this site a bit boring is that no pictures were included. When a person uses an encyclopedia they are usually looking for general knowledge about the subject. However this encyclopedia gave very specific details about things I would probably never need to know. This site also went into detail about other people and things related to Galileo but not about him which I wouldn't find necessary.

The few links that were given were even written in great detail. Which is good, but I know when I go to links I usually only want general facts and information. If a person wants to learn about Galileo's experiments and his learning this is where you will

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find details.

The second website simply entitled Galileo Galilei was rather useful. It provided a life story about Galileo the person followed by sections on Galileo's scientific life, such as mechanics, astronomy, the microscope, thermometry, and magnetism. This website is intended for the general population. A student of all ages, maybe not little kids, doing a project on Galileo would find this site very useful. Even a person just browsing through websites could easily learn information on Galileo. There were so many links leading to other information related to Galileo. So if a person needs to know more in depth or more detailed information these links are helpful. This website even includes pictures in almost every link. A person can see Galileo's inventions and can read about what they are used for and how they were built. Overall, this website is very effective, easy to follow and easy to comprehend.

The last website I chose on Galileo is The Rice Universities Galileo Project. This homepage was extraordinary. A person could spend so much time just looking through all of the links and information given by the students who created this site as a school project. This website was very easy to follow. There isn't much written work just by looking at it. It is all links that you go to for the information. For every link listed is a description of what you will find when you click on it. So for a person doing a school project or for anyone, you don't need to go to every link just to see what information is given. If you need Lilley 4

to find something specific such as information on Galileo's mechanics you would go to the Laboratory link. This website gives information not only on Galileo's experiments but his life as well. Such as the Portrait Gallery which displays pictures of important people in Galileo's life and other famous scientists. There is a Family Quarters links which is all about Galileo's family. Another good link is the Instrument Closet which lists every one of Galileo's instruments as a link in itself. By clicking on one of these you will get complete information about that instrument and a picture of it. What makes this website so interesting is all of the pictures. There are so many graphic images. Other special features include a Resources link which lists every single topic mentioned throughout the website, so it is a mini dictionary of terms. There are also maps relating to Galileo. One other important source of information is a Timeline of Galileo's Time and Era. This a timeline of decades which are links. Under each date is information about every thing that happened in that decade in Galileo's life. What I found very useful is the icon bar at the end of every page. This allows you to access any of the categories listed above it at any point during your search through this website. Which is another reason this website is so easily accessible in providing great information and detail on the life of Galileo. Any person would find this website useful, and fascinating not just a person doing research on Galileo.

I though this project was interesting because I have never

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used the internet before to do school work. So for me to determine if these websites were useful and effective was a new experience for me. Using the internet is so much more convenient for doing research than looking through encyclopedias and books and coping down notes. This project gave me a chance to teach myself to use the internet. And evaluating the websites was a great way for me to do that. I guess every maker of these webpages did their job by creating something new and useful because I learned from each of them.

Danielle Lilly

A = Good job! Your insight, ideas and writing are all very good, as is your grasp of the information. A few more specific details, such as quotations, or images described would make your review even stronger.