Telescopes

Since the dawn of early civilization, man has been fascinated by the boundless magnificence of the sky with its shimmering stars and radiant splashes of light. In fact, early man had been so awe-struck with the heavens that a lot of the early structures that were built like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and the Stonehenge in Great Britain are known to have some reference to the position of the planets and the stars.

Interest in the planets has led to many creative inventions. One would think that the telescope, being the primary instrument used by scientists today to study the universe and galaxies, would be in the forefront of these early inventions. Strangely though, it was not and it took several years, the 17th century to be exact, for the telescope to be introduced as an instrument for observing and tracking the movements of the stars.

In fact, no one knows for sure who invented the telescope. Some attribute this to Galileo but research will bear out the fact that Galileo merely improved on something that was already in existence. With the discovery of glass in 3500 B.C. and Euclid’s studies on reflection and refraction of light in the 3rd century, some of the theory that could serve as the basis of the telescope was available during the Greek times. Still, no telescope was invented during this time.

A spectacle-maker, Hans Lippershey (c1570-c1619) of Holland is often credited with inventing the telescope, although he definitely was not the first one to use it. With his “far-looker” which he accidentally discovered while in the process of preparing spectacles for his customers, Lippershey was able to put together two lenses of different shapes, enclose these in a tube, then have people look through the tube and be fascinated by how the instrument could make objects from a distance appear bigger and closer.

The news of Lippershey’s invention reached Galileo Galilei and it intrigued him so much that he proceeded to invent his own version of the telescope that he eventually used to do his extensive research on the moon and other planets. And the rest, as they say is scientific history.

Today, the telescope stands as the main medium through which astronomers are able to view distant and faint objects and to observe the skies and the movements of the sun and the planets.