The origins of the telescope /
Van Helden, Albert.
Amsterdam : KNAW Press,
2010.
"The origins of the telescope have been debated since the instrument's appearance in the Hague in 1608. Civic and national pride has led local dignitaries, popular writers, and scholars to present sharply divergent histories over the years, crediting a variety of people and places with the invention. Drawing on newly discovered documents, re-examined records, and tests of early lenses and telescopes, this fascinating study proposes a new and convincing account of the origins of the instrument that changed mankind's vision of the universe."--Publisher's description.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-360) and index.
Introduction -- The "true inventor" of the telescope. A survey of 400 years of debate -- Huib J. Zuidervaart -- The city of Middelburg, cradle of the telescope -- Klaas van Berkel -- The telescope at the court of the stadtholder Maurits -- Rienk Vermij -- The long road to the invention of the telescope -- Rolf Willach -- Suspicious spectacles. Medical perspectives on eyeglasses, the case of Hieronymus Mercurialis -- Katrien Vanagt -- William Bourne's invention. Projecting a telescope and optical speculation in Elizabethan England -- Sven Dupre; -- Alhacen and Kepler and the origins of modern lens-theory -- A. Mark Smith -- Complete inventions: The mirror and the telescope -- Eileen Reeves -- Galileo and the telescope -- Albert Van Helden -- Did Galileo copy the telescope? A "new" letter by Paolo Sarpi -- Mario Biagioli -- The world's oldest surviving telescopes -- Marvin Bolt_and Michael Korey -- Labour on lenses: Isaac Beeckman's notes on lens making -- Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis -- Testing telescope optics of seventh-century Italy -- Giuseppe Molesini -- Kepler's legacy: telescopes and geometrical optics, 1611-1669 -- Antoni Malet -- The Netherlands, Siam and the telescope. The first Asian encounter with a Dutch invention -- Henk Zoomers -- Music as a liberal art and the invention of the telescope -- Albert Clement -- Bibliography -- The authors -- Index
"The origins of the telescope have been debated since the instrument's appearance in the Hague in 1608. Civic and national pride has led local dignitaries, popular writers, and scholars to present sharply divergent histories over the years, crediting a variety of people and places with the invention. Drawing on newly discovered documents, re-examined records, and tests of early lenses and telescopes, this fascinating study proposes a new and convincing account of the origins of the instrument that changed mankind's vision of the universe."--Publisher's description.
Telescopes