Galileo Bonaiuti

Bonaiuti practiced medicine in Florence in the 15th century, taught medicine at the University of Florence, and was on the governing council of the Republic of Florence,^[1] a powerful position on a par (domestically) with being a member of the US senate, today.^[2] He was buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce, roughly halfway between where Michelangelo and his own descendant, Galileo, would be interred.^{[citation needed]}

While officially retaining the Bonaiuti surname for generations, the family began referring to itself by the surnames Galilei or Galileo in his honor around the time he was alive.^[3] This is the likely source of his descendant's own name, influenced by the inscription on his tomb in the Basilica; Galileo Bonaiuti was referred to as Magister Galileus de Galileis, olim Bonaiutis ("Professor Galileo of Galilei, of the Bonaiuti family").^{[citation needed]}