It had been known since the first spectacles were produced in the middle of the 13th century, that glass was capable of bending light, a property which no other known material of the period could achieve. The Dutch spyglass worked upon this very principal, arranging lenses with careful attention to detail to create a compounding magnification effect. If light hits a plano-convex (pronounced “play-noh”) lens, which is flat upon one side and convex upon the other, the same formation used for those who suffer from hyperopia, rays of light streaming inward are bent toward eachother, eventually meeting and converging at a specific triangular point. Right before this focal point, Galilei improved the original Dutch design by placing his second lens, an ocular lens which is plano-concave, meaning flat upon one side and concave upon the other, the same formation used for those who suffer from myopia. This secondary lens pushes the bent rays of converging light back out again so that they can hit the eye and provide a clear image. The eye focuses this light upon the retina so that the observer can view the image produced by the spyglass. The magnification power of a telescope depends upon the ratio between the focal lengths of the lenses, with these distances marked as F1 for the distance between the front of the spyglass and the plano-concave lens, and F2 from the plano-concave lens toward the back of the spyglass. The largest difficulty impeding Galilei was the grinding down process of his convex lens, in an attempt to make it as shallow as possible to maximize the length of the F1 partition, as the longer the distance is, the greater the magnification will be. Within a few weeks of developing this new technology, Galilei’s first telescope had a clear magnification of 8x, far exceeding the power of the original Dutch spyglass. On August 21, 1609, Galilei climbed a Venice bell tower to meet up with Venetian nobles and senators so that he could display his new technology. This new bleeding edge feat of engineering permitted Venetians to spot sailing ships 2 hours earlier than if they had used the naked eye. 3 days after the event, Galilei gifted his telescope to the Duke of Venice and was afforded a guaranteed job for life in exchange, with this salary equating to double his original income. With his finances secured, Galilei went on to develop and produce even more powerful telescopes
Share This Interesting Fact: The Career Path of German Spectacle Maker Hans Lippershey, the Person Who Designed and Patented the Dutch Spyglass, the Magnification Capabilities of the First Dutch Spyglass, and the Benefit of the Dutch Spyglass Technology for Astronomy and the Person Who Developed the Telescope Date May 12, 2021 In relation to Interesting Facts Light and the Universe: The First Person to Study the Properties of Light, How Ancient Egyptian Mathematician Euclid (No Last Name) Studied the Properties of Light, Euclid Studying How Large and Small Objects Appear When Far or Near From the Observer, Euclid’s Hypothesis of Why This Occurs, the Discovery of Light Traveling Within Straight Lines, the Result of Diverting a Straight Line of Light, Italian Astronomer Galileo Galilei Migrating to Venice, Italy in 1609, the Physical Description of Galilei, the Italian Public’s View of Galilei During the 17th Century, the Source of Galilei’s Income and the Inability for Galilei to Control His Finances During the 16th Century and 17th Century, the Reason Galilei Became Head of the Galilei Family in 1591, the Financial Obligations of Galilei During the 1590’s, the Reason Galilei Was in Search of Novel Income in 1609, the Technology of the Dutch Spyglass During the 17th Century, the Information Galilei Understood of the Technology of the Dutch Spyglass, the Location Galilei Purchased Glass Prior to Developing the Telescope, the Tool Galilei Utilized to Develop Convex and Concave Lenses, the European Understanding of Light and Glass During the 13th Century, How the Dutch Spyglass Worked, the Result of Developing a Plano-Convex (Flat Upon One Side and Curved Upon the Other Side) Lens, How Galilei Situated Convex and Concave Lenses Within His Telescope Design, the Benefit of Utilizing Convex and Concave Lenses Within a Telescope, How the Human Eye Observes an Image Through a Telescope, How Telescope Magnification Capabilities Are Determined, the Largest Difficulty Galilei Experienced Whilst Developing the Telescope, the Magnification Rate of Galilei’s First Telescope, Galilei Meeting With Venetian Nobles and Politicians to Display the Technology of the Telescope in 1609, the Benefit of Telescope Technology for the Venetians, the Person Galilei Gifted His First Telescope Prototype to, Galilei Attempting to Develop a More Powerful Telescope, the Person Who Published the Sidereus Nuncius (Sidereal/Starry Messenger) Publication, Galilei’s First Documentation Related to Astronomy, the Reason the Sidereus Nuncius Publication Was Controversial During the Early 17th Century, the Understanding and View of Planets Throughout History, the Reason Galilei Disrupted the 4th Century B.C. 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