Who Made the First Telescope?

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Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) lived in Italy and is remembered as the first person to turn a telescope to the sky and make important astronomical observations. He built the first telescope in 1609 and then went on to make many. He observed that Moon was not smooth and perfect as it looks, but it was covered with mountains and craters. He also discovered that a pendulum could be used to measure time. He found this by watching a hanging lamp swinging in Pisa Cathedral. He realized that it took exactly the same time for each swing, whether the swings were large or small. He also observed bright satellites of Jupiter, sunspots and other things. The four largest moons of Jupiter are now known as the Galilean satellites. He made himself unpopular because he lived in a time when people believed that the Earth did not move and the Sun and Moon revolved around it. People believed what was written in the Bible. He was imprisoned and ended his life in a house arrest.

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