TELESCOPES − THEIR HISTORY, DEVELOPMENT AND THE FUTURE
Prof. David W Hughes
University of Sheffield

1609 saw the new-fangled 'telescope' turned towards the sky for the first time. Galileo Galilei, the famous Italian astronomer, made a host of wonderful discoveries. He found that the Moon was mountainous, the Sun spotty and that Jupiter had orbiting satellites. His observation of the moon-like phases of Venus proved that the Earth was orbiting the Sun and not vice versa.

Throughout the following 400 years telescopes have changed greatly. Hand-held instruments have been replaced by huge engineering giants. Refracting lenses have given way to massive reflecting Pyrex mirrors. Observatories in the centres of cities have been closed down and the astronomers have moved to distant mountain tops. The naked eye has been replaced by the chips we use in digital cameras.

Every fifty years or so, over the last 400 years, the size of the biggest telescope on Earth has doubled, and we have not stopped yet.

The organising Committee would like to thank the following organisations who helped to make Frontiers of Physics 2009 possible.

Institute of Physics in Ireland Education Group
Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics at WIT
Second Level Support Service - Physics Section
CALMAST
Science4Schools
International Year of Astronomy in Ireland
Discover Science and Engineering
PharmaChemical Ireland
AG Education Services Group
Orchid Communications Ltd
SciFest
The Irish Times
Astronomy Ireland

FRONTIERS OF PHYSICS 2009
Waterford Institute of Technology
26th September 2009
Camera : Marek Bogacki
Produced by DOCUMENTAVI MMIX