Telescope earliest existing record of a telescope was a 1608 patent submitted to the government in the Netherlands by Middelburg spectacle maker Hans Lippershey for a refracting telescope. The actual inventor is unknown but word of it spread through Europe. [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] heard about it and, in 1609, built his own version, and made his telescopic observations of celestial objects. The idea that the [[Objective (optics)|objective]], or light-gathering element, could be a mirror instead of a lens was being investigated soon after the invention of the refracting telescope. The potential advantages of using [[parabolic reflector|parabolic mirrors]]—reduction of [[spherical aberration]] and no
Treaty of Antwerp (1609) Treaty of Antwerp (1609) The Treaty of Antwerp, which initiated the Twelve Years' Truce, was an armistice signed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 between Spain and the Netherlands, creating the major break in hostilities during the Eighty Years' War for independence conducted by the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries. In February 1608 Dutch negotiators submitted to their Spanish counterparts three different proposals regarding overseas trade in the East Indies. The first proposal suggested that peace in Europe be established with free trade permitted in overseas territories that were not controlled by the Spanish Empire. The second proposal suggested