People using the telescope today may be
unaware that its invention heralded a new dawn in the relationship between
science and religion. For many centuries, the Roman Catholic Church insisted
that the earth was at the centre of the solar system (North, 2008).That both
the sun and the other celestial bodies revolved around the earth. Scientists
contested this position but none of them had the means to prove that a contrary
position was tenable.
It was, however, not until 1608 when the
telescope was invented (North, 2008). People had been using magnifying glasses
but not in the manner in which telescopes are known today. Hans Lipperhey, a
gifted spectacle maker based in The Netherlands applied for a patent on a
telescope that he claimed to have invented. His application was never granted. Lipperhey’s
application remains the first of its kind to have been made regarding the
telescope. This makes 1608 as the accepted date for the invention of the
telescope even if there could have been other people who invented a similar
device prior to this date. Such people were indeed very many. For instance,
Sacharias Janssen is rumored to have invented a telescope much earlier than
Lipperhey. It is unfortunate that no record of this invention existed.
Following the invention of the telescope,
scientists were able to closely observe celestial bodies. Such observations
were able to show that the celestial bodies were not smooth as had always been
held by the church. Thomas Harriet was one of those initial observers who
discovered craters and mountains on the moon (North, 2008). This was in 1609,
only a year after Lipperhey’s invention. Subsequently and in the same year of
1609, Galileo was able to make concise observations of the celestial system.
This enabled him to build the heliocentric theory which was in stark contrast
to the geocentric model accepted by the church at the time.
Reference
North, J.D. (2008).Cosmos:
An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology.London: University of Chicago Press.
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