De Tellescopiis Stellarum (1666). Was Galileo experimenting with four-lens terrestrial telescopes by 1630?
This paper presents a hitherto unknown seventeenth-century component-by-component description of a four-lens terrestrial telescope attributed to Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), complete with diagrams and measurements. The author is the Spanish friar Ignacio Muñoz O.P. (ca. 1608/1612-1686), who penned it on August 8, 1666, in Mexico City. The owner of the telescope was Antonio Sebastián de Toledo Molina y Salazar (1608-1715), II Marquis of Mancera and viceroy of New Spain (1664-1673). Images of the source, a transcription in the original Latin, an English translation, and the measured values derived from the piece-by-piece analysis are provided. The study also contextualizes the document and examines the reliability of the attribution, reflecting on its potential implications for the history of the telescope.
Authors
- José María Moreno Madrid (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9499-3474)
Institutions
- University of Limerick (IE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Annals of Science
- Published
- 2026-05-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2026.2661195
- Primary Topic
- Historical Philosophy and Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00