Who Invented The Telescope

Want to know who invented the telescope? For many years, people were-and may still be-under the impression that it was famed astronomer Galileo who invented the telescope, but that is a false assumption. In truth, Galileo was the first to use the telescope; he had heard news in regards to this new invention that he felt could help him view the stars.

Galileo would actually construct his own telescope without ever seeing the first one in existence. It is possibly because of this portion of his biography and story that people often think of him as the person who invented the telescope. The true inventor is a German spectacle maker (spectacle is another name for glasses) by the name of Hans Lipperhey. Lipperhey is cited as the inventor due to his patent being the earliest one to date, going back to 1608.

In those days, scholars and teachers were losing their eyesight due to age; anyone who wears glasses knows that certain issues can arise with a person's eyes, like eye strain or something called presbiopia. Presbiopia is common among those in their early forties, when reading the letters or numbers on a page gets to be different, hence the prescription of reading glasses.

With the discovery of using glass that could magify and thus help people see things far away, spyglasses came about, allowing people to be able to view things they wouldn't be able to with the naked eye. It was Galileo that brought the telescope into popular culture, using his spyglass to observe the moon and four satellites around Jupiter.

So who invented the telescope? When asked, you can now say Hans Lipperhey is cited as the inventor due to his invention being the first patented.