Talk:Telescope
Subsection waiting for rewrite
Telescopes as research tools
Zik (2001) notes that before the telescope scientific observation relied on instruments such as Heron's diopter,[1][2] Levi Ben Gershom's cross-staff,[3] Egnatio Danti's torqvetto astronomico, Tycho's quadrant, Galileo's geometric military compass, and Kepler's ecliptic instrument. At the beginning of the 17th century, however, it was unclear how an instrument such as the telescope could be employed to acquire new information and expand knowledge about the world. To exploit the telescope as a device for astronomical observations Galileo had to establish that telescopic images are not optical defects, imperfections in the eye of the observer, or illusions caused by lenses; and develop procedures for systematically handling errors that may occur during observation and measurement and methods of processing data. Galileo made it clear that in order to measure and interpret natural phenomena accurately, a suitable method and instrument would need to be developed. Historians of science explore the linkage established by Galileo among theory, method, and instrument, in his case the telescope. Although the telescope was not invented through science, Galileo used optics to employ a theory-laden instrument for bridging the gulf between picture and scientific language, between drawing and reporting physical facts, and between merely sketching the world and actually describing it.[4]
- ↑ Heron of AlexandriaEvangelos Papadopoulos, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens. The Dioptra describes a surveying instrument similar to a theodolite. Heron is believed to have been active in the first century A.D.although there is some dispute over exact dates.
- ↑ Ancient Greek Technology - Measuring Instruments International Federation of Surveyors (2004)
- ↑ The Cross Staff David P. Stern (2003) Goddard Space Flight Center. Gershom lived in France in the late 13th through early 14th century. He may have invented the simple two-piece instrument that allowed sailors to estimate latitude while at sea
- ↑ Yaakov Zik, "Science and Instruments: the Telescope as a Scientific Instrument at the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century." Perspectives on Science 2001 9(3): 259-284.