The Grand Stage Before Us: “The Sidereal Messenger”

Galileo Galilei was born in 1564 at Pisa (Figure 1). Galileo began his studies in medicine at the University of Pisa, but soon left those studies, preferring mathematics with Ostilio Ricci. In 1592 he secured the chair of mathematics at Padua.

Telescopes, in the form of low-magnifi cation spyglasses, were being made since the autumn of 1608. In 1609, Galileo was in Venice, when he heard of an invention that allowed distant objects to be seen as distinctly as if they were nearby.