New Light on Old Telescopes: An Optical Safari in Search of the World’s Oldest Specimens
A telescope serves as an easily recognizable scientific instrument, one with a readily understood purpose and construction. But not always. Recently, a 3-month safari (with Marv Bolt/Corning Museum of Glass) tracking down and optically measuring instruments in more than two dozen museums and private collections across Europe capped a decade of investigating the startling variety of early telescopes.