The Gregorian telescope Le Bas – Tuscany arrives at the Galileo museum in Florence
(ANSA) – FLORENCE, 04 MAY – The Gregorian reflecting telescope by Philippe-Claude Le Bas is on display at the Museo Galileo in Florence, one of the first of its kind, made following the constructive indications given by Scottish James Gregory, in his work ‘Optica promota ‘of 1663. The telescope, which belonged to the Milanese antiquarian Michele Subert, was purchased for 4,800 euros by the Ministry of Culture and entrusted to the Museo Galileo on a free loan from the state owner, the Regional Directorate for Museums of Tuscany. Le Bas was an optician to Louis XIV of France (the Sun King) and was allowed to reside in the Louvre. The instrument, it has been explained, is still functional: both the optics and the mechanical parts are intact. The telescope is complete with a tripod with ball joint for correct orientation and is equipped with a special mount with a gimlet screw that allows it to be stably placed on a fixed support. Visitors will be able to admire it and also visit the ‘Musical Orbits’ review, four concerts (8, 15, 22 and 29 May) by the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence which are inspired by the partnership between music and science, with particular reference to astronomy . It will also be possible to see two instruments from the Museum’s acoustic collection: a sixteenth-century specimen of a ‘talking trumpet’, belonging to the Medici Collection, and Thomas Edison’s phonograph. “This telescope enriches a very important collection of seventeenth-century telescopes, among which Galileo’s two stand out”, underlined Roberto Ferrari, director of the Galileo Museum. Giorgio Strano, curator of the collection of the Museo Galileo, specified that it is “one of the first mirror telescopes used in Europe”. For Stefano Casciu, regional director of museums in Tuscany, it is “a very important object for the history of science, also for the perfect conditions of conservation and functioning”.
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