Hans Lippershey
(1571-1619) German-Dutch spectacle-maker · Germany · Scientists · Lived 1570 to 1619 · aged 49
Hans Lippershey is read about 107 times a day, in 45 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He built a device that let people see farther than their eyes allowed, then tried to lock down the rights. Whether he invented it or simply got to the patent office first remains an open question.
Also in Deutsch
Photos 3
About this person
Hans Lippershey was a spectacle-maker working across the German-Dutch border around the turn of the 17th century. Sometime before 1608, he assembled a telescope - or something very much like one - and became the first person to seek a patent for the instrument. The application put his name in the record, but it didn't settle the deeper question: had he actually invented the thing, or had someone else beaten him to it? The answer stayed murky then and remains murky now. He was buried on 29 September 1619, his role in the story fixed at "first to file," not necessarily first to see.
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