Introduction

We have replicated, with great care, Galileo's two internationally famous telescopes. We built these replicas using measurements we made and collected from the two originals on display at the IMSS museum in Florence, Italy and from information published in the literature.

We constructed the telescope on the left, IMSS INV # 2428, for the Griffith Observatory’s opening of their new exhibition wing in 2006. It is complete to the smallest detail: the delicate gold embossed decorations precisely reconstructed from our photographs of the original, the leather covering, the original coloring, its very unusual wood thin-stave construction, its odd focal length objective lens – all construction details that have not been done before or to the same level of precision. 

We constructed INV # 2427,  pictured on the right, for the Adler Planetarium.  It re-creates the equally interesting laboratory type telescope and the only other known telescope ascribed to Galileo. Its main barrel consists of a split wood tube covered with paper, painted, and reinforced with copper wire bands along its full length.

We took great care with both telescopes reproducing each part of the instruments as close as possible to the originals. Each telescope was assembled by hand as they were in Galileo's day. Our dimensional accuracy has been kept to within a few percent in all cases and in some instances to fractions of a millimeter of the originals. We also chose not to antique them but to show them as they would have looked when new.

The telescopes are high museum grade replicas and therefore very rare.  The leather covered telescope, the replica of  IMSS INV #2428, has over 100 pieces and is embossed with over 400 gilding die strikes. It replicates the thin stave construction feature, and has an optical power of 21. The replica of  IMSS INV # 2427 represents a construction style commonly used in research and field grade telescopes for that time period.  It has closer to 17 pieces and a power of 14. The pair complement each other, one is a presentation piece designed for people of power and influence, the other, a field type instrument for customers or colleagues.

We were able to achieve this high level of accuracy in the reproduction of these telescopes through the patience and very professional help of the staff at IMSS in Florence Italy, at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angelos, and at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. They shared their considerable knowledge of these instruments with us.  At the Adler Planetarium they gave us access to the interesting Cipriani replicas and at the IMSS we were able to make measurements and take high resolution photographs of the original Galileo instruments on display.

We found it was absolutely essential to make our own measurements of the original leather telescope having found a number of important differences in the data for its dimensions and materials in the published literature and in existing replicas. We made a concerted effort in checking and cross checking our data to resolve these differences.  (It is important to note that there are many so-called replicas which are so far from the characteristics of the IMSS originals that we did not include them in our comparison studies.)  For those instances where no data was available on the originals, such as the for the existing eyepiece holder in the leather covered telescope, IMSS #2428, we made and noted our best choice based on our own technical experience which is considerable.  However if new or more reliable information becomes available on the eyepiece holder, our telescope could accommodate the lens in the ocular draw tube itself if necessary.  The bottom line is that we believe our replicas to be the most accurate and finest made to date and will hopefully serve as standards for other replication in the future.

We have built other Galileo instruments and were aware of his life and his work.  But in researching his ventures into developing and using the telescope, we have come to see Galileo’s saga and his telescopes as remarkable and timeless examples of what the business of science is all about and how science really works.  Galileo and his instruments are an excellent case study of the working of science and basic research – the contributions they make to our knowledge and the fragile threads that supports them.  The telescopes demonstrate that the processes used by science ensure the truth will be revealed no matter how strong the bias. When discoveries are suppressed it is only a matter of time before they come to light again.  When errors are made, science’s self correcting processes will reveal them.  Its output has testable reliability.  These processes of science are not unique to science but they should become more universal.

Since our replicas are so accurately reproduced they are particularly useful as research, teaching, and display tools. One can see, feel, and operate them as Galileo saw, felt and operated them. This tactile experience high lights in a very real way  their virtues and their faults and offer a more mature insight into 1609 telescope making and operation in a way that Galileo, his associates and customers would have experienced.

For those with the professional interest: we will be making a  few of these very precise museum grade  replicas for museums, serious collectors and those who so kindly donate instruments of this quality to their favorite museums and other teaching institutions.  If you are interested, please contact us at k1ugm@comcast.net

For further information on our data gathering process and construction details, please go to the following links:
 

Serious errors in the optics, the telescopes dimensions, and what one really see's looking through Galileo's telescopes  found in the literature.

Measuring Galileo original telescopes lengths Ambiguity in the  literature of the physical dimensions of Galileo's telescopes

Historical uncertainties about Galileo personality & technical ability in the  literature

 

Thoughts about basic scientific research

Galilean Syndrome.