There are claims Leonard Digges independently invented the reflecting telescope, and/or the refracting telescope as part of his need to see accurately over long distances during his surveying works. In the preface to the 1591 "Pantometria," (a book on measurement, partially based on his father's notes and observations) Leonard's son Thomas lauded his father's accomplishments. Some of the praise of the son for the father appears to be extravagant exaggeration, while other claims appear more credible. On the fifth page of the preface, Thomas Digges provides a remarkable account of his father's accomplishments: