Galileo turns the telescope skyward
With a Dutch toy rebuilt at higher power, Galileo saw Jupiter's moons, lunar mountains and the phases of Venus, published in Sidereus Nuncius.
Why it matters
The instrument overturned the authority of the eye and the ancients at once. Galileo's trial made the conflict between institutional doctrine and open observation a permanent theme of modernity.
People
Galileo Galilei
Related events
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica — Galileo