Well, any of us who has ever looked through a telescope could say the same, for the two principal types in use today were developed by giants: the refractor by Galileo and the reflector by Newton.

Nearly 415 years ago to the day astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the moons surrounding Jupiter looking through his homemade telescope.

Shortly after he began producing his binoculars, news of the telescope reached Galileo. These days, the telescope is mostly closely associated with the night sky, but it's also useful on land and ...