The Emergence of the Telescope

Abstract

This study takes a fresh look at the circumstances of the 17th Century emergence of the telescope in the Netherlands. The analysis of the historical context of this pivotal point in scientific and military history centers on documents, events, and personalities connected with the surprising emergence of the device as a spyglass during the Peace Conference arranged between Spain and the United Netherlands in 1608 at The Hague. The respective claims for Hans Lipperhey, Jacob Metiús, and Sacharias Janssen as true inventors of the device are examined, along with the retrospective contributions of Janssen's son, Ambassador Willem Boreel, and witnesses of the City of Middelburg in Zeeland to the investigation of the matter circa 1655. These testimonials formed the basis of the evidence presented in one of the earliest works on the subject, De Vero Telescopii Inventore of Pierre Borel (1656). The present study then links events in the contemporary political context with the existence of a shadowy "as yet unknown man," posited by the contemporary Italian chronicler Hieronymus Sirturus as the source of Hans Lipperhey's knowledge of the telescope. Sacharias Janssen is put forth as the most likely worker to have first fully realized the device, a production of his workshop between 1604 and 1608.

Principal documentary sources are the relevant Minutes and Account Books of the archives of the Dutch Republic at The Hague, archived letters of the Committee of Councilors of Zeeland State, contemporary journals, and subsequent commentaries in general and optical history.