Galileo's Telescope: 400th Anniversary

Historians, scientists and astronomers around the world paused this past week to mark the 400th anniversary of the telescope as popularized by Galileo. (It should be pointed out that he did not invent the telescope, but acquired one and improved it).

The Philadelphia Inquirer published this story on the exhibiting of the Galileo telescope in its April 2, 2009 online edition.

National Geographic celebrated the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope this past week.

Just over 400 years ago, Galileo--then chair of mathematics at Italy's University of Padua--got word that Dutch glass makers had invented a device that allowed viewers to see very distant objects as if they were nearby.

The mathematician soon acquired a Dutch instrument, and on August 25, 1609, he presented an improved, more powerful telescope of his own design to the senate of the city-state of Venice. The government officials were so impressed with Galileo's telescope that they rewarded the professor with a higher salary and tenure for life at his university.

At the time, Galileo was touting the telescope for commercial and military applications, such as watching ships at sea. But in the fall of 1609 Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens, setting into motion a new kind of science: telescopic astronomy.

The Franklin Institute is hosting an exhibit on Galileo. A complete educator's guide can be downloaded here.

We learned via Facebook of Yale University's online exhibit Starry Messenger: Observing the Heavens in the Age of Galileo. "This selection of engravings, charts, diagrams, and texts reveals the furred and cratered faces, the portents and instruments in European observations of the heavens from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century."

Italy's Institute and Museum of the History of Science has a section of its web site entitled Galileo Portal, providing "access to the variety of the Galilean resources published on the Istituto e Museo diStoria della Scienza website. The portal is articulated in 9 sections. A specific search engine allows to freely browse the contents of the different archives."

Rice University features an array of information on Galileo and the telescope via its online Galileo Project, including lesson plans for teachers, the Italian astronomer's biography and much more.