The Production of The First Telescopes By The Jesuits
Modern refracting telescopes are based on a design proposed by Johannes Kepler in 1611 but first constructed by Father Christopher Scheiner some time between 1613 and 1617 (see Timeline of the Telescope).
Why did Scheiner build an astronomical telescope when other scientists of his day seemed quite content with the Galilean telescope? The answer may require looking past Scheiner to his order, the Jesuits. Scheiner’s unorthodoxy regarding telescope construction, use and theory was not out of place in the Jesuits. Another Jesuit of Scheiner’s and Galileo’s time, Niccolo Zucchi, demonstrated that a telescopic effect could be achieved using a combination of parabolic mirrors and lenses instead of just lenses. This crude reflecting telescope was built more than 50 years before Newton’s famous telescope.
The Jesuits also have a connection with the spread of telescope technology beyond Europe. The first telescope in North America was a gift presented by the Jesuits in 1646 to Jean Bourdon, an engineer in New France (modern day Quebec) The first telescope in China was brought there by Johannes Schreck, another Jesuit, in 1621 (his trip from Europe started in 1618). The Jesuit Jean Richaud is wrongly thought to be the first to use telescopes for astronomical purposes in India.
Vatican Observatory Brief History
1582
The Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world. Papal interest in astronomy can be traced to Pope Gregory XIII who had the Tower of the Winds built in the Vatican in 1578 and later called on Jesuit astronomers and mathematicians to study the scientific data and implications involved in the reform of the calendar which occurred in 1582. From that time and with some degree of continuity the Holy See has manifested an interest in and support for astronomical research. These early traditions of the Observatory reached their climax in the mid-nineteenth century with research conducted at the Roman College by the famous Jesuit, Father Angelo Secchi, the first to classify stars according to their spectra. With these rich traditions as a basis and in order to counteract the longstanding accusations of hostility of the Church towards science, Pope Leo XIII in his Motu Proprio Ut Mysticam of 14 March 1891 formally refounded the Vatican Observatory and located it on a hillside behind the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica.
1863
From that time, the Papacy has manifested an interest in and support for astronomical research. In fact, several pontifical observatories were established in Rome, including the Observatory of the Roman College, the Observatory on the Capitoline Hill and the Specola Vaticana (or Vatican Observatory). These early traditions of observational astronomy reached their climax in the mid-nineteenth century with the research of the Jesuit, Fr. Angelo Secchi, at the Roman College. The most prolific of those who first classified stars according to their spectra, Fr. Secchi is often referred to as the “Father of Modern Astrophysics” and his technique remains important in modern research.
1891
Following the unification of Italy in 1870, the pontifical observatories became state property. Despite this setback, the Vatican continued its support of astronomy, and in an effort to counteract the accusations that there was a conflict between the Church and science, Pope Leo XIII formally re-founded the Specola Vaticana (Vatican Observatory) in 1891.
1935
From a hillside behind St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican astronomers studied the heavens, taking part in an international program to map the whole sky. By the 1930s, however, the city’s lights had begun to blot out the fainter stars, and in 1935 Pope Pius XI moved the Observatory to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, a town in the Alban Hills about 25 kilometers outside Rome.
1987
New technology developed by Roger Angel and colleagues at the Steward Observatory offered significant promise for developing a more powerful telescope at considerable cost savings. Collaborating with the Steward Observatory, the Vatican Observatory built the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mt. Graham in southeastern Arizona. Funding for the project was only possible with the generosity of private, philanthropic support. Hence, in 1987 the Vatican Observatory Foundation was established.
