Well, any of us who has ever looked through a telescope could say the same, for the two principal types in use today were developed by giants: the refractor by Galileo and the reflector by Newton.

The unremarkable-looking object is in fact one of the most important artifacts in the history of science: it's one of only two surviving telescopes known to have been made by Galileo Galilei ...

Shortly after he began producing his binoculars, news of the telescope reached Galileo. These days, the telescope is mostly closely associated with the night sky, but it's also useful on land and ...