Stargazing is an ancient pastime and learning tool, but it was in the 17th century that a German-Dutch spectacle-maker pioneered one of the most important astronomical instruments, changing our view of the universe forever. Hans Lipperhey was born in Wesel, now in western Germany, in 1570. Later settling in Middelburg, the capital of the Zeeland province, now in the Netherlands, in 1594.
During that time, he became a master lens grinder and spectacle-maker and established an optical shop. He developed a deep knowledge of optical science, which helped him invent the ‘telescope’. One of the earliest written records of a refracting telescope is attributed to Lipperhey, for which he filed a patent in 1608. Around the 13th century, the optical industry was established in Venice and Florence, in Italy, making its way to the Netherlands and Germany around Lipperhey’s time.
There are many tales about how Lipperhey conceptualised his invention. One version goes that he observed two children playing with lenses in his shop and commented how they could make a far away vane seem closer when viewing it through two lenses. Other stories have Lipperhey’s apprentice coming up with the idea while some critics also suggest there were other similar contraptions of telescopes at the time in Europe, including Lipperhey’s.
Hence, it’s hard to pinpoint who the actual investor was. Meanwhile, Lipperhey’s original instrument consisted of either two convex lenses with an inverted image or a convex objective and a concave eyepiece lens, so it would have an upright image.
This “Dutch perspective glass” (the name “telescope” was coined three years later) boasted of 3X magnification. Lunar crater Lippershey, the minor planet 31338 Lipperhey, and exoplanet Lipperhey (55 Cancri d) are named in his honour.
FACT OF THE MATTER
New study on the universe formation
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Big impacts from small cell changes
Gottingen: Universities of Gottingen and Warwick researchers have found that the main component of cytoskeleton of the cell, a protein called actin, comes in two different varieties termed “isoforms”: gamma actin and beta actin. The difference between the two proteins is miniscule. Yet this small change has a big impact on the cell, and the body. They analysed the two to arrive at this conclusion.