Zik, Yaakov (Author)
Hon, Giora (Author)
According to the received view, the first spyglass was assembled without any theory of how the instrument magnifies. Galileo, who was the first to use the device as a scientific instrument, improved the power of magnification up to 30 times. How did he accomplish this feat? Galileo does not tell us what he did. We hold that such improvement of magnification is too intricate a problem to be solved by trial and error, accidentally stumbling upon a complex procedure. We construct a plausibility argument and submit that Galileo had a theory of the telescope. He could develop it by analogical reasoning based on the phenomenon of reflection in mirrors---as it was put to use in surveying instruments---and applied to refraction in sets of lenses. Galileo could appeal to this analogy and assume Della Porta's theory of refraction. He could thus turn the spyglass into a revolutionary scientific instrument---the telescope.
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Book
Paolo Palmieri;
(2016)
Hermes and the Telescope: In the Crucible of Galileo's Life-World
(/isis/citation/CBB515798894/)
Book
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Shea, William R.;
Bascelli, Tiziana;
(2009)
Galileo's Sidereus nuncius or A Sidereal Message
(/isis/citation/CBB001021203/)
Essay Review
Renata Ago;
(2007)
Suggestioni per la storia sociale: distanza geografica, incompletezza delle informazioni e segretezza nella comunicazione scientifica di Galileo
(/isis/citation/CBB252029371/)
Book
Gaulke, Karsten;
(2010)
Kepler, Galilei, das Fernrohr und die Folgen
(/isis/citation/CBB001031815/)
Book
Massimo Bucciantini;
Franco Giudice;
Michele Camerota;
(2015)
Galileo's Telescope: A European Story
(/isis/citation/CBB071731602/)
Article
Giuseppe Patota;
(2021)
Occhiale, cannone, cannocchiale e telescopio: una storia lincea
(/isis/citation/CBB043412351/)
Essay Review
Franco Giudice;
(2007)
Only a Matter of Credit? Galileo, the Telescopic Discoveries, and the Copernican System
(/isis/citation/CBB386449739/)
Article
Nenci, Elio;
(2008)
Galileo and the Boboli Fontanieri: The Knowledge of the Hydraulic Pumps between Philosophers and Practitioners
(/isis/citation/CBB000931289/)
Chapter
Seyyed Hadi Tabatabaei;
(2019)
The Introduction of the Telescope into Iran before the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB004733557/)
Article
Trabucco, Oreste;
(2009)
Giochi d'acqua e d'aria tra magia e meccanica: ancora su Della Porta e Galileo
(/isis/citation/CBB000931305/)
Book
Andersen, Geoff;
(2007)
The Telescope: Its History, Technology, and Future
(/isis/citation/CBB000741832/)
Chapter
Strano, Giorgio;
(2013)
Galileo, Reliable Observer: Astronomical Accuracy and the Optical Limits of the Telescope
(/isis/citation/CBB001201010/)
Article
Filippoupoliti, Anastasia;
(2012)
“A Small but Choice Collection of Instruments”
(/isis/citation/CBB001421580/)
Chapter
George V. Coyne;
(2019)
Dov'e finito il cielo? Galileo e la nascita della scienza moderna
(/isis/citation/CBB400820189/)
Book
Edmondo Lupieri;
Paolo Ponzio;
(2019)
Chi ha rubato i cieli? : Galileo, la "Lettera a Cristina" e le origini della modernità
(/isis/citation/CBB946509573/)
Book
Payne, Alina Alexandra;
(2012)
The Telescope and the Compass: Teofilo Gallaccini and the Dialogue between Architecture and Science in the Age of Galileo
(/isis/citation/CBB001201625/)
Book
Flavia Marcacci;
(2015)
Galileo Galilei: una storia da osservare
(/isis/citation/CBB978032143/)
Book
Mario Biagioli;
Émilie Dauphiné;
(2022)
Galilée et ses publics: instruments, images et culture du secret
(/isis/citation/CBB007400872/)
Article
Peter D. Usher;
(2003)
Jupiter and Cymbeline.
(/isis/citation/CBB708438466/)
Article
Sven Dupré;
(2005)
Ausonio's mirrors and Galileo's lenses: the telescope and sixteenth-century practical optical knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB971296344/)
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