The telescope (or spyglass) is an optical instrument which
can provide a magnified view of objects which are at a distance.
Hence their association with ships captains' seeking out
distant shores or pirate ships, for example. The
invention and development of the telescope has been linked
with many famous names, including Lippershey, Galileo and
Newton.
Although the credit goes to Hans Lippershey,
a spectacle-maker, some claim that the invention actually
stemmed from a discovery of his apprentice who put two
difference kinds of lenses together and was astonished
when some distant object appeared closer. This was a refractor
, meaning that it operated by refracting or bending light
through glass lenses. It is the easiest kind of telescope
to make, at least in smaller versions, and was popularized
as the pirate's spyglass. |