Well, any of us who has ever looked through a telescope could say the same, for the two principal types in use today were developed by giants: the refractor by Galileo and the reflector by Newton.

3 min read The Hubble Space Telescope was designed to free astronomers of a limitation that has plagued them since the days of Galileo—Earth's atmosphere. Shifting air pockets in the atmosphere ...

Thus was born the study of optics. In 1609, about a year after an unknown author made the very first attempt to patent a telescope, Galileo Galilei designed and built his famous instrument ...

Second, you soon want a bigger telescope. Galileo, who first trained a telescope on the night sky 400 years ago this fall, pioneered this two-step program. First, he marveled at what he could see.

Produced in conjunction with the Galileo Museum in Florence, the exhibition opens a window on a crucial period in the astronomer’s life – after he became famous for turning his telescope onto ...