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Essay
Nature 457, 28-29 (1 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/457028a; Published online 31 December 2008
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Year of astronomy: Mankind's place in the Universe
Owen Gingerich1
- Owen Gingerich is professor emeritus of astronomy and history of science at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and author of God's Universe.
Email: ginger@cfa.harvard.edu
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Abstract
Technological developments in astronomy have long helped to answer some of the greatest questions tackled by humanity, recounts Owen Gingerich.
Just over 400 years ago, news swept across Europe of an astonishing device — two lenses within a tube — that almost magically brought distant views closer. Its exact origins are lost in a mist of controversy, but it is known that one Hans Lipperhey in Middelburg, the Netherlands, applied for a patent in October of 1608.
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