HANS LIPPERSHEY: BIOGRAPHY, INVENTION OF THE TELESCOPE, CONTRIBUTIONS - ARTE - 2025

Hans Lippershey (1570-1619) was a renowned German-born inventor whose work became known in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His most important work has to do with the invention of the first telescope in the world.

His profession, before gaining worldwide fame for creating the telescope, was to make lenses. He even had his own store in Zeeland, a province of Holland. There, Lippershey became a master of his art and was well known to all for his skills in polishing glasses.

Source: Jacob van Meurs, via Wikimedia Commons.

There was also talk that Lippershey had an important role in the invention of the compound microscope. This device used lenses that allowed very small objects to be seen with a greater dimension. Although the invention was also attributed to two other opticians in Holland.

Biography

Hans Lippershey was born in 1570 in Wesel, Germany. Very few data exist on the first years of the German's life. He was even known by other names, such as Jan or Johann, and his surname was sometimes spelled as Lippersheim.

He moved to Middelburg, which is now a town that is part of the Netherlands, a country from which he took nationality years later. In this city, in the province of Zealand, Lippershey trained in the optical trade and with the passage of time he became one of the most important teachers in the area.

Over time he invented and experimented with different shapes to be able to create the lenses that were used, especially those used in glasses. At the end of the 16th century, the tests of lenses that could magnify objects that were at a considerable distance began.

Lippershey married in 1594, but there is no further information on who his wife was or the possible descendants he had. Her family and personal life is a mystery to historians.

Invention of the telescope

The telescope underwent great changes over time, especially when it was first created in the 17th century. Characters very relevant to the history of mankind have helped this device to evolve to become one of the most important pieces of equipment in science.

Among them we can name Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton or Edwin Hubble. But the first record of a person using a telescope belonged to Hans Lippershey, who was in charge of using a pair of lenses that served to fulfill the function of a telescope.

Controversy

There are those who assured that the invention is not original of Lippershey. Some legends spoke of the German seeing a group of children playing with a pair of glasses that had been discarded as defective. These lenses allowed that some objects that were distant could be observed larger.

This play between children would have been what inspired Lippershey to continue experimenting with glasses. Her next step was to build a molding that would be able to hold the lenses and then she worked on how to place them inside.

Other authors

Jacob Metius and Zacharias Janssen, other Dutch optics professionals, also claimed to be the authors of inventing the telescope. In any event, Lippershey was credited with perfecting the optical technique of the apparatus, as well as the application.

First instrument

The first telescope built by Lippershey consisted of two lenses that were held in a specific place so that an observer could see through them objects that are located at a certain distance.

He referred to his invention by the name of "kijker", which in Spanish would be a viewpoint. The arrangement he made of the lenses resembles the arrangement used by cameras today.

This first invention resulted in the replication and development of other similar magnifying devices. But Lippershey's design was considered the first referenced version that described an apparatus that resembled what is now known as a refractive telescope.

Lippershey received a large sum of money to make replicas of his model telescope. This device then began to be acquired by people of European high society, including Henry IV, king of France and the first of the Bourbon dynasty.

Patent

Despite being considered as the creator of the telescope, Hans Lippershey was denied the application to patent his invention. On October 2, 1608, the German inventor applied for a 30-year patent in the Netherlands.

The government denied this request, which considered the idea to be very simple and therefore could not be kept secret.

Similarly, the Dutch government asked Lippershey to continue his experiments and, if possible, to create several telescopes for the government. These new models served as binoculars and Lippershey received good compensation for his work.

The apparatus designed by Lippershey did not get the name of a telescope from the beginning. Many people referred to the invention as Dutch reflective glass.

It was Giovanni Demisiani who was in charge of giving it the term of telescope to define the apparatus. The theologian created the word by joining the Greek terms 'télos' and 'skopein', which means 'far' and 'to see or look at', respectively.

Around the same time that Lippershey applied for his patent, another inventor claimed the invention of the device. Lippershey's request reached the Dutch government only a few weeks before Jacob Metius's request, which was also rejected.

Later, Zacharias Janssen also claimed to be the creator of the telescope. The eyewear manufacturer wanted to be recognized for the invention several decades later than Lippershey and Metius.

It has not been possible to determine for sure who the creator of the telescope was, but Lippershey takes most of the credit for being the first to file the patent application. This is the first document on record that refers to the device.

Popular instrument

Due to the patent application that Lippershey made to the Dutch government, people from all over the world began to have a notion about the ideas and works of the German inventor. This information was known because the invention was mentioned in a diplomatic report, the distribution of which occurred throughout Europe.

The publication caused many people to experiment with their own versions of telescope models. That of the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was perhaps the most famous case. He created his own model of a telescope, following Lippershey's ideas, and made his own observations on the instrument.

Galilei managed to improve the apparatus and built a model that had a far greater magnification than that achieved by Lippershey. Lippershey's telescope had a magnification that allowed an object to be seen three times larger, while the one made by Galilei had 10 times more magnification power.

With this improved version, the Italian was able to observe mountains and even craters on the moon, as well as being the first to observe the composition of the Milky Way. He also came to discover the four largest moons of Jupiter (later named after the Galileans).

Lippershey's invention and publication of his ideas allowed other scientists to experiment with new ideas. The Italian Paolo Sarpi and the English Thomas Harriot also tried to improve the apparatus.

Death

Hans Lippershey's life was too short to be able to enjoy all the benefits and contributions that his experiment gave to the world. He died in Holland in 1619 when he was 48 years old.

His death occurred just a few years after Galileo Galilei's observations using a telescope inspired by that of the German scientist. A crater on the moon was named Lippershey, in honor of his contributions. It also gives its name to asteroid 31338 and to a planet located outside the solar system, called an exoplanet.

Other contributions

Hans Lippershey's inventions and contributions were mostly focused on the area of ​​optics. Thanks to his early ideas, a large number of different models of telescopes were created throughout the world.

All models follow the same principle that Lippershey laid out in the 17th century. The principles exposed consisted in using optics to make objects that are distant, or that are very small, able to be seen larger. This idea especially allowed astronomers to have a more detailed view of celestial objects.

Currently, telescopes are more reflective, since they use mirrors that serve to reflect light from objects. The use of optical devices continues to be a great help to observers, especially for the devices found in the eyepieces and instruments on board.

Some space observatories, such as the Hubble space telescope, are a small sample of the importance of Lippershey's studies and notes years ago.

Compound microscope

Lippershey is also related to the invention of the compound microscope, although it cannot be established exactly whether it actually generated a real kind of influence.

Binoculars

The inventor is also involved in the manufacture of binoculars, of which he created several copies for the General State of the Netherlands. Among other things, Lippershey is also listed as the first person to have documented the description of the telescope.

The refractor telescope

Lippershey's design was a refracting telescope

Image by b0red from Pixabay

The instrument presented by Lippershey was a refracting telescope. This object was not seen as a tool for astronomy but as a useful implement for the war field.

However, figures dedicated to the observation of the stars such as Galileo Galilei, continued with the development of the device to make great discoveries. Lippershey's model barely reached a magnification of the image of 3x while Galilei managed to increase the factor to 20x, which was able to detail objects such as craters on the Moon and stars within the Milky Way.

The basic composition of a refracting telescope is glass lenses. These are manufactured with the ability to refract or "bend light". The structure consists of a converging lens positioned as "objective" and with a wide focal length and another converging lens with a shorter focal length called "eyepiece". The rays of light emitted by an object and which in turn pass through the structure of the telescope reproduce an amplified image of the observed body.

At present, apart from refracting telescopes, there are instruments with reflector systems, which use only mirrors. There are also catadioptric telescopes that use the combination of mirrors and lenses.

References

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