Brass/Wood Griffith Astro Telescope 44"

After hearing of the first telescopes, Galileo set out to design one of his own and, at a 1609 demonstration, presented one of these antique nautical instruments to visiting Venetian senators. This device allowed the senators to view ships approaching a full two hours before they were visible with the naked eye. Coming to be called a telescope, from the Greek ‘tele’ for ‘far’, and ‘skopein’ for ‘to look or see,’ the device was embraced by the military and much sought after. Within a year Galileo had created a telescope capable of much higher magnification and became the first person to study the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the hills and valleys of the moon. Although the earliest of these antique nautical instruments suffered from a lack of proper lenses, they were a scientific revolution prompting some of the best minds of the time to research, design, and test new technologies. In attempts to create telescopes of greater magnification and clearer image, the size of the telescope often grew to over a hundred feet in length, an unstable design that was prone to collapse. Because of the massive size and setups, these telescopes were stationary, difficult and expensive to build, and not particularly effective. However, with large advances made in both the refracting and reflecting lenses, and the desire for knowledge during the Scientific Revolution, these antique nautical instruments grew ever smaller, leading to the best tabletop telescope possible. Over the next hundred years lenses were redesigned by scientists throughout Europe and new telescopes were created that featured sharper images, smaller lenses, and a size that was manageable by a single person. Combined with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the resulting dramatic increase in technology and industry, the brass telescope with tripod spread throughout Europe and became an essential tool used by sailors and astronomers alike.