Hans Lippershey (1570–September 1619), also known as Johann Lippershey or Lipperhey, was a German-Dutch lensmaker.
He was born in Wesel, in western Germany. He settled in Middelburg in the Netherlands in 1594, married the same year, and became a citizen in 1602. He remained in Middelburg until his death.
He was credited with creating and disseminating designs for the first practical telescope. Crude telescopes and spyglasses may have been created much earlier, but Lippershey is believed to be the first to apply for a patent for his design (beating Jacob Metius by a few weeks), and making it available for general use in 1608. He failed to receive a patent but was handsomely rewarded by the Dutch government for copies of his design. The "Dutch perspective glass", the telescope that Lippershey invented, could only magnify thrice.
The first known mention of Lippershey's application for a patent for his invention appeared at the end of a diplomatic report on an embassy to Holland from the Kingdom of Siam sent by the Siamese king Ekathotsarot: Ambassades du Roy de Siam envoyé à l'Excellence du Prince Maurice, arrive a La Haye, le 10. septembr. 1608 ("Embassy of the King of Siam sent to his Excellence Prince Maurice, September 10, 1608"). The diplomatic report was soon distributed across Europe, leading to the experiments by other scientists such as the Italian Paolo Sarpi, who received the report in November, or the English Thomas Harriot in 1609, and Galileo Galilei who soon improved the device.
One story behind the creation of the telescope states that two children were playing with lenses in his shop. The children discovered that images were clearer when seen through two lenses, one in front of the other. Lippershey was inspired by this and created a device very similar to today's telescope.
The lunar crater Lippershey and the minor planet 31338 Lipperhey are named after him.
Hans Lippershey created and disseminated the first practical telescope. Crude telescopes and spyglasses may have been created much earlier, but Lippershey is believed to be the first to apply for a patent for his design (beating out Jacob Metius by a few weeks) and make it available for general use in 1608. He failed to receive a patent but was handsomely rewarded by the Dutch government for copies of his design. A description of Lippershey's instrument quickly reached Galileo Galilei, who created a working design in 1609, with which he made the observations found in his Sidereus Nuncius of 1610.
There is a legend that Lippershey's children actually discovered the telescope while playing with flawed lenses in their father's workshop, but this may be apocryphal. The son of Zacharias Janssen of Middelburg subsequently testified that Lippershey had stolen the idea for his instrument from his father -at a time when Janssen would have only been two years old.Lippershey crater, on the Moon, is named after him.
