Telescope Time Line

1608 – Hans Lippershey, a Dutch

glassmaker applied for the first patent for
a telescope. He called his device a “kijker”
(looker). It could magnify an image up to
three times. This was made of a concave
Hans Lippershey and his telescope. From:
eyepiece and a convex lens. https://www.bygonely.com/bg_item/telescope-1608-by-hans-
lippershey/

1608 – A few weeks later, Jacob Metius,

also Dutch, also applied for a patent for a
telescope. Neither patent was approved as
1609 – Galileo Gallilei designed his own
the government thought it too easy to
version of a telescope, without seeing the
reproduce.
Lippershey version. He made
improvements to the telescope – his
version could magnify 20 times.

Galileo was the first recorded person to

point a telescope to the sky. This led to
him supporting the idea that Earth is NOT
the centre of the Universe. (Heliocentric
model)

His largest telescope was 120cm long. The Galileo from: https://www.biography.com/news/galileo-discoveries-
theories-modern-physics-astronomy
image created was upright. He was able
to see details of the moon never seen
before.

This discovery led to increased curiosity of

what lies beyond our atmosphere. He
basically helped to create modern
astronomy.
 1611 – Johannes Kepler changes up the
design, using two convex lenses instead of
one concave and one convex. He improved
magnification. Images however appeared
upside down. Kepler’s work in optics
included a description of refraction, and
images. Telescopes got a bit bigger.

With his invention he was able to look

farther into space.

Johannes Kepler from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler

1655 – Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch

astronomer developed the most powerful
telescope of the time. . He also found a
way to reduce some of the distortion in the
images seen. His telescopes were up to
120 feet long.

This telescope allowed for detailed study of

planets. An important discovery was the
A Huygen telescope from: rings of Saturn.
http://www.telescopenerd.com/astronomers/christiaan-huygens-
telescopes.htm

1668 – Isaac Newton improved on

telescopes with the use of mirrors instead
of lenses. The reflecting telescope was
born!

Isaac Newton from:

https://www.biography.com/scientist/isaac-newton
1668 – Newton continued…

The use of mirrors made telescopes

cheaper to make, as well as easier to
construct and assemble.

Newton’s design also allowed for shorter

and more compact telescopes. This made
the telescope more portable.

A Newtonian telescope from:

https://www.britannica.com/science/reflecting-telescope
Many small improvements occurred over
the next 100 years. Including:

1721 – John Hadley developed parabolic

mirrors for telescopes. This required
grinding of the reflective metal. His
telescope used a mirror only 6 inches in
diameter, and the telescope was 6 meters
long. These created a sharper image.

1729 – Chester Moore Hall introduced a

new form of lens (two types of glass
cemented together) that solved the colour
Hadley's telescope from
distortion problem. He discovered this by https://history.amazingspace.org/resources/explorations
studying the human eye. /groundup/lesson/scopes/hadley/index.php

Chromatic aberration and achromatic lenses from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achromatic_lens
1789 – William Herschel oversaw the
construction of a 12 meter long reflector
telescope.

This was the largest telescope in the world

for 50 years. He improved the design so
that more light was available.

This telescope was used to discover two

moons of Saturn as well as other moons of
gas planets.

The groundwork for the concept of The “40-foot” telescope William Herschel designed. From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-foot_telescope
nebulas, and galaxies outside the Milky
Way was laid.

In the 1800s, the struggle in development

of bigger and better telescopes was the
material. At the time they used “speculum In 1845, William Parsons, Lord Rosse, built
metal” for the mirrors. It was hard to work a 1.8m metal mirror telescope. His
with, and tarnished easily in some telescope was a massive construction for
climates. the time, and some called it the Leviathan
of Parsontown.

Lord Rosse’s telescope was able to show

details not seen before. With it, Lord
Rosse discovered spiral nebulae. One of
his assistants, John Dreyer recorded a list
of all the “cloudy patches” that they
discovered. They numbered over 7000!

Lord Roasse’s telescope. From:

https://history.amazingspace.org/resources/explorations
/groundup/lesson/scopes/rosse/scope.php
 In 1897, the largest refracting telescope
was built. It was funded by Charles T.
Yerekes, so was named the Yerkes
Observatory. The observatory was
founded by George Ellery Hale.

This telescope used the largest possible

lenses possible at the time. (102 cm
diameter) Any larger and the lenses would
deform and collapse under their own
weight.

The Observatory is considered the

Refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory From:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes_Observatory birthplace of astrophysics, as it combined
the telescope and lab space for physics and
chemistry. This was considered a “shift in
thinking” as it removed the isolation of
In 1917, the 100 in (2.5m) Hooker
observations and combined it with science.
telescope was completed. It was the
largest telescope in the world for over 30
years. The telescope was fitted with an
inferometer which allowed precise
measurements.

Edwin Hubble used this telescope to make

important observations. This included
proof that the Universe extended beyond
our galaxy, identifying some nebulae as
being millions of light years away. As well,
he showed that the Universe is expanding.

Many other scientists used this telescope

and made important discoveries, including
evidence of dark matter and different
Hooker telescope from:
types of stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wilson_Observator
y#/media/File:100_inch_Hooker_Telescope_900_px.jpg
The 1930s gave us a new way to observe
the Universe. Karl Guthe Jansky wondered
about what caused the static with radio
and telephone services.

He built an apparatus that detected radio

waves, and noted three types of “static”,
one of which was a “background hiss”. He
Karl Jansky and his equipment. From:
believed this background static came from https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/karl-jansky-and-his-
beyond our solar system. With further merrygoround/

study he concluded it came from the Milky

Way.
In 1948 the Hale Telescope was completed.
Grote Reber created a more advance radio This was a 5m reflecting telescope. A key
telescope in 1937. His parabolic “dish” advance in this telescope was the use of
telescope allowed more investigation into Pyrex for the primary mirror, which is a
radio signals. He discovered many other borosilicate glass. Pyrex does not expand
radio sources. as much as regular glass.

This telescope was the largest telescope

until 1976.

In 1957 a large radio telescope was built

by Sir Bernard Lovell. This was 76 m in
diameter and could be aimed at any point
in the sky. This telescope allowed
important research into meteors, quasars,
and pulsars.

Part of the Hale telescope From:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Telescope
In 1990, the Hubble telescope was
launched into space (one of the first in
space). Placement in space removed
atmospheric distortion, as well as light
pollution

The Hubble is 13 meters long, and the

primary mirror is 2.4 m wide. It allows for
The Hubble Telescope. From:
observation of near UV light, visible light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
and near Infrared.

It is arguably one of the most important

telescope ever built. It has made over 1.3
million observations since deployment. It
takes pictures of stars, nebulae and more.
It has allowed scientists to peer into the
“past” and locations over 13.4 billion light
years away.

An image of a galaxy 23 million light years away from Hubble:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/index.html

In 1991, another important telescope array

was launched into space. This was the
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It was
made of four telescopes, and observed x-
rays and gamma rays from space.

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory From:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton_Gamma_Ray_Ob
servatory
In 1996, the WM Keck Observatory was
completed. This is found on the summit of
Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and is 4145m above
sea level.

It is comprised of two telescopes. Both

have 10m primary mirrors. The way these
were built was a breakthrough for
telescopes. The mirrors are comprised of
36 segments that are each 7.5cm thick. WM Keck Observatory From:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-new-
They are considered the largest cooperative-agreement-to-w-m-keck-observatory
“steerable” optical telescopes on earth.

From 2009 to 2013, the Herschel Space

Observatory was operated by the
European Space Agency.

The Kepler Space Telescope was launched

It is the largest Infrared telescope launched
in 2009 by NASA.
into space. It was built to observe the
coldest and “dustiest” objects in space.
Its primary mirror was 1.4m in diameter. It
used a specialized glass developed by
Due to its limited coolant supply it was
Corning, called Ultra Low Expansion glass.
only operational for almost five years.
The mass of this glass is 14% of that of
regular mirrors.

It was designed to survey our region of the

Milky Way, and a key search parameter
was Earth-like planets that could
potentially could support life.

An artist’s impression of the Kepler telescope From:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_space_telescope
Throughout the world are now many
amazing telescopes. With every
construction of new telescopes comes the
development of new technology.

The imaging capability continues to

improves, the materials used continue to
evolve and new leaps in science and
technology continue. And telescopes get
bigger and more powerful. European Southern Observatory From:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Southern-
Observatory

Currently in development is another Space

telescope, called the James Webb Space
Telescope.

It will be launched in 2021. It will include a

6.5 m mirror. With the technology of the
JWST, scientists hope to observe very old
and distant objects.

James Webb Space Telescope from:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Southern-
Observatory
 References
Websites used:
https://www.groovylabinabox.com/the-evolution-of-the-telescope/
https://interestingengineering.com/a-brief-history-of-the-telescope-from-1608-
to-gamma-rays
https://history.amazingspace.org/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/scope
s/hadley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._M._Keck_Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_space_telescope
https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/space/astronomy/telescope/
evolution-of-telescopes
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http://www.historyoftelescope.com/telescope-history/telescope-timeline/