Astronomy Hacks

Colophon

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The tool on the cover of Astronomy Hacks is a refractor telescope. Although magnifying glasses and burning glasses had been known since classical times, and eyeglasses were in use by 1300, it was not until the final decade of the 16th century that instrument makers first created optical instruments for scientific exploration.

The first simple microscopes were built by brothers Zacharias and Hans Janssen, about 1595. Although the telescope seems a logical follow-on to the microscope, no evidence exists that any telescope was built prior to 1608. The invention of the telescope is sometimes credited to Zacharias Janssen or James Metius, but evidence suggests that spectacle maker Hans Lippershey was the first to construct a telescope.

One day, while holding a spectacle lens in either hand, Lippershey happened to view a nearby church steeple through both lenses and was astonished to see that it appeared larger than before. He mounted the lenses in a tube to adjust and preserve their spacing, and thereby invented the refractor telescope.

Lippershey applied to the Dutch government for a patent, which was denied because he was unable to prove that he was the sole inventor. The government officials, however, recognized the value of Lippershey’s ...