Page 226 - 89 history of astronomy_opt

1609 Galileo heard that a Dutch spectacle-
maker had combined a pair of lenses so as
to magnify distant objects. Working on this
hint, he solved the same problem, first on
paper and then in practice. So he came to
make one of the first telescopes ever used
in astronomy. No sooner had he turned
it on the heavenly bodies than he was re-
warded by such a shower of startling dis-
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