The development of the telescope marks, indeed, a new phase in human thought, a new vision of life. It is an extraordinary thing that the Greeks, with their lively and penetrating minds, never realized the possibilities of either microscope or telescope. They made no use of the lens. Yet they lived in a world in which glass had been known and had been made beautiful for hundreds of years; they had about them glass flasks and bottles, through which they must have caught glimpses of things distorted and enlarged. But science in Greece was pursued by philosophers in an aristocratic spirit, men who, with a few such exceptions as the ingenious Archimedes and Hiero, were too proud to learn from such mere artisans as jewellers and metal- and glass-workers. Ignorance is the first penalty of pride. The philosopher had no mechanical skill and the artisan had no philosophical education, and it was left for another age, more than a thousand years later, to bring together glass and the astronomer.( The Earth in Space and Time §1).H.G. Wells
About This Quote
Galileo Galilei, an Italian astronomer and physicist, was the first person to use a telescope, in 1609. He used the telescope to observe the Moon and discovered that it has mountains and craters. He also discovered that there were other bodies in the solar system than the Earth and Venus. He was sent to Rome for his discovery but because he had spoken out against the Church's teachings, he was forced to recant his findings. After he recanted his views, he was punished by being forced to live in a dark room until he died at the age of 77.The Astronomer, Sir William Herschel (1738-1822), developed a better telescope and found many more celestial bodies in addition to those already known.
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