New Discoveries of Early Telescopes

Science historians find old technological artifacts in the most unusual of places

Like cell phones or the Internet in recent history, the telescope's introduction in the early 17th century had a swift and lasting impact on the world. Telescopes revolutionized the way men viewed the Earth-and themselves.

Until recently, scholars thought only eight or 10 of these important early telescopes-made between 1608 and 1650 of tightly rolled paper and crudely ground lenses-had survived to the present day. Then two historians, during a visit to a museum in Berlin last fall, thought of places to look for other, as yet undiscovered, examples.

Hidden in a cabinet
On October 2, 2006, Marvin Bolt of Chicago's Adler Planetarium and Michael Korey, a museum conservator in Germany, visited Berlin's Decorative Arts Museum to see a well-known telescope dating to 1617. It had been part of a collection found in a finely to display scientific instruments. Such cabinets were important status symbols in wealthy 17th century households. The idea was that, by owning one and its contents, the owners showed they were learned and knowledgeable as well as generous sponsors of scientists and their work.

Cabinets and contents
Seeing the 1617 telescope and the elaborate cabinet it came from, Bolt said a bell went off in his head. There were probably other old cabinets scattered around Europe that nobody had ever looked into for old telescopes. "Curators aren't aware of the history of telescopes, and if they have one belonging to one of these cabinets, they regard it more as a beautiful object rather than an example of early technology," said Bolt.

Bolt and Korey excitedly began thinking about canvassing museums that might own the cabinets. That night, while attending the opera back in Dresden, Korey noticed a poster advertising the loan of a 17th century cabinet from Dresden's own decorative arts museum to a Budapest museum.
Vocabulary Focus

revolutionize (v) ---to completely change something so that it is much better

a bell going off in (one's) head (idiom) ---a sudden awareness or understanding of something that is very important to you

canvass (v) ---to try to discover something by investigating many possible sources

Specialized Terms

planetarium (n) ---天文馆a building in which moving images of the sky at night are shown using a special machine

curator (n) ---博物馆或美术馆的部门主管；收藏单位管理者a person in charge of a department of a museum or other place where objects of art, science or historical interest are collected