Instinctively, you say: “Galileo!” Upon reflection, you probably remember it was Hans. But what if I told you that the person who invented the telescope was the one and only Leonardo da Vinci? This is the conclusion researchers came to, after consulting documents kept at the Ambrosiana Library in Milan and at the Académie Française, in Paris. 

Let’s take a step back and look into what we know about the telescope and its invention. Dutch optician Hans Lippershey is widely credited with inventing the telescope in 1608 when he sought patent protection for a device that would magnify objects in the distance.