Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei wrote Two New Sciences while under house arrest after his 1633 trial, and it was smuggled to Leiden for publication in 1638, when he was 74 and going blind. It sets out his work on the strength of materials and on motion, including falling bodies and projectiles, and is often seen as the foundation of modern physics. His telescope discoveries are more famous, but this late book did more lasting scientific work.