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14th century--convex lenses to correct farsightedness are developed.
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15th century--concave lenses to correct nearsightedness are developed
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1608--In the Netherlands, Hans Lippershey discovers that holding two lenses up some distance apart bring objects closer. He applies for a patent on his invention. This is the first documented creation of a telescope.
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1609--Thomas Harriot (1560 – 1621) English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator becomes the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope
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1609--Galileo, after simply hearing that the device was invented, builds several telescopes of his own and turns them toward the heavens. He dared to publish his findings and was nearly burned at the stake for it
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1611--The term "telescope" is coined by Prince Frederick Sesi at a reception where Galileo is demonstrating his instruments.
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1611--Johannes Kepler switches from a concave eyepiece to a convex eyepiece. This not only allowed a larger field of view, but it allowed for the projection of images
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1668--Robert Hooke demonstrates how to shorten the tube by using three or four perfectly flat mirrors to reflect the image back and forth in a shorter tube. A 60-foot long telescope can be reduced to 12 feet long, greatly simplifying support and stability.
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1668--Newton produces the first successful reflecting telescope, using a two-inch diameter concave spherical mirror, a flat, angled secondary mirror, and a convex eyepiece lens 8
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New telescopes are trying to figure out the structure of the milky way
