Catalog of Inventions and Discoveries
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The Telescope and the New View of the Universe
First the subject of a Dutch patent application in 1608 by spectacle maker Hans Lippershey, the telescope was quickly improved and turned into a scientific instrument by Galileo Galilei, whose 1609-1610 observations of the Moon, Jupiter, and the Milky Way reshaped astronomy and supported the Sun-centered model of the solar system.
1608Artificial Satellites and Space-Based Technology
In 1957, the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 opened the Space Age, triggering a Cold War race that rapidly produced satellites for communication, weather observation, and navigation. Built on decades of rocketry and orbital theory, artificial satellites now underpin global communications, GPS, weather forecasting, and scientific research, reshaping modern life from orbit.
1957