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Hans Lippershey
Born	1570 Wesel, Germany
Died	September 1619 (aged 48–49) Middelburg, Netherlands
Nationality	German
Occupation	Lensmaker
Known for	Inventor of the telescope

Hans Lippershey (1570 – September 1619), also known as Johann Lippershey or Lipperhey, was a German-Dutch lensmaker, generally credited as being the inventor of the telescope.

He was born in Wesel, in western Germany. He settled in Middelburg in the Netherlands in 1594, married the same year, and became a citizen in 1602. He remained in Middelburg until his death.

He has been credited with creating and disseminating designs for the first practical telescope. Crude telescopes and spyglasses may have been created much earlier, but Lippershey is believed to be the first to apply for a patent for his design (beating Jacob Metius by a few weeks), and making it available for general use in 1608. He failed to receive a patent but was handsomely rewarded by the Dutch government for copies of his design. The "Dutch perspective glass", the telescope that Lippershey invented, could only magnify thrice.

Lippershey's application for a patent was mentioned at the end of a diplomatic report on an embassy to Holland from the Kingdom of Siam sent by the Siamese king Ekathotsarot: Ambassades du Roy de Siam envoyé à l'Excellence du Prince Maurice, arrivé à La Haye le 10 Septemb. 1608 (Embassy of the King of Siam sent to his Excellency Prince Maurice, arrived on September 10, 1608). This report was issued in October 1608 and distributed across Europe, leading to experiments by other scientists, such as the Italian Paolo Sarpi, who received the report in November, the Englishman Thomas Harriot, who was using a six-powered telescope by the summer of 1609, and Galileo Galilei, who soon improved the device.^[1]

One story behind the creation of the telescope states that two children were playing with lenses in his shop. The children discovered that images were clearer when seen through two lenses, one in front of the other. Lippershey was inspired by this and created a device very similar to today's telescope.

The lunar crater Lippershey and the minor planet 31338 Lipperhey are named after him.

Notes

1. ^ Van Helden (1977, p.40; 1985, p.65), Drake (1978, p.138)

References

• Drake, Stillman (1978). Galileo At Work. Mineola, NY: Dover. ISBN 0-486-49542-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=OwOlRPbrZeQC&printsec=frontcover&#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
• Van Helden, Albert (1977). The Invention of the Telescope. Philadelphia, PA: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-674-6. 
• Van Helden, Albert (1985). Measuring the Universe. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-84881-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=L-yb7GX9mQIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 

External links

• Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You - Timeline - Hans Lippershey
• 400th Anniversary of the Invention of the Telescope