400 Years of Astronomical Telescopes

The beginnings, from Lipperhey to Huygens and Cassini.- Galileo’s telescope: history, scientific analysis, and replicated observations.- The Era of Newton, Herschel and Lord Rosse.- The great nineteenth century refractors.- In the grip of the big telescope age.- “Beautiful and cantankerous instruments”: telescopes, technology, and astronomy’s changing practice.- Astronomical spectroscopy in the last four decades: survival of the fittest.- The history of radio telescopes, 1945–1990.- History of infrared telescopes and astronomy.- History of X-ray telescopes and astronomy.- History of gamma-ray telescopes and astronomy.- Imaging very high energy gamma-ray telescopes.- History of solar telescopes.- History of neutrino telescope/astronomy.- 400 years of astrometry: from Tycho Brahe to Hipparcos.- History of astronomical discoveries.- Capabilities of amateur telescopes - and their development over the last 35 years.- Creation of the Hubble Space Telescope.- History of mirror casting, figuring, segmentation and active optics.- Telescope mounts and dome structures.- Adaptive optics: a breakthrough in astronomy.- The development of astronomical interferometry.- The submillimetre revolution.- Historical footnote to Ian Robson’s talk at the Leiden observatory conference—400 Years of Astronomical Telescopes—entitled “The Rise of the Submillimetre” on Wednesday 1 October 2008.- Back to the future: science and technology directions for radio telescopes of the twenty-first century.- Realization of X-ray telescopes–from design to performance.- Gamma-ray telescopes.- Past and future of ESO.- The role of observatories in underdeveloped countries.- Telescopes in the mirror of scientometrics.- Early history space astronomy.- Conceiving and marketing NASA’s GreatObservatories.- Future technologies for optical and infrared telescopes and instruments.- Perspectives and challenges for future telescopes.