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
Hans Jacob Hess Hans Jacob Hess John Jacob Hess (German: Hans Jacob Hess) (May 17, 1584 – 1639) was a Swiss-German Anabaptist minister and martyr. John Jacob Hess was born in Wald, Zurich, Switzerland on May 17, 1584 to Hans Heinrich Hess, a bailiff, (1534–1587) and Adelheid Kuntz (1546–1585). He had eight older full siblings: Margaretha, Christian, Matheus, Hans, Elsy, Margaretha, Heinrich, and Dorothea; five older half-siblings from his father's first two marriages: Adelheid, Barbara, Veronica, Catharina and Anna; and one younger half-brother, Hans, from his father's fourth marriage. He married Anna Egli (1584–1639) on April 27, 1606. They had 7 children: Anna