The telescope began as a relatively simple device, born out of optical experimentation. It combined a series of lenses and mirrors to collect and magnify light, allowing the user to see far away ...

Instruments of revolution can appear deceivingly simple. With a bit of wood, copper wire and paper, Galileo fashioned a telescope that opened the skies for discovery. The telescope had a magnifying ...

Hans Lippershey's ingenious spyglass -- Galileo's new window on the heavens -- Johannes Kepler, the nearsighted wizard -- Isaac Newton's reflecting telescope -- William Herschel's giant reflectors -- ...

You know the stars are up there, but with all the light pollution — and the fact that they're so inconveniently far away — you often just have to take the collective astronomy world's word for it. The ...

"Lecture delivered to the Rochester N.Y. section of the American Optical Society, Nov. 2nd 1965, and to the joint sections of the Delaware Section of the Optical Society of America and the Rittenhouse ...