1608

Lippershey Applies for Telescope Patent

October 1608

A German-Dutch spectacle-maker named Hans Lippershey submitted to the States-General in The Hague a device of two lenses in a tube that made distant objects appear three times closer. His patent was refused because others had it too, but news of the instrument traveled fast, all the way to Padua.

More from 1608 Renaissance

In context

Also in 1608 (3 other events on record)

Champlain Founds Quebec · North America · Politics
John Smith Rescued by Pocahontas · North America · Politics
El Greco Paints View of Toledo · Europe · Culture

Before and after in Europe

Before: 1607: Monteverdi's Orfeo Performed at Mantua
After: April 9, 1609: Twelve Years' Truce

Before and after in Technology

Before: 1589: William Lee Invents the Stocking Frame
After: August 10, 1628: Vasa Sinks on Its Maiden Voyage

Era

Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.