He first placed a replica microscope in front of the neutron scanner—a test to ensure he didn’t render a priceless piece of scientific history radioactive for 1,000 years.

Since Galileo ground his own glass for the lenses of his occhiolino, scientists and doctors have relied on microscopes. And for those last 486 years, microscopes have remained too expensive ...

MICROSCOPE is a super high-tech version of Galileo's same basic experiment: It contains two nested glorified cans, one made of titanium and one of a platinum alloy.

Galileo calls his compound microscope with a concave and a convex lens the occhiolino, or little eye. The magnifying device is a gateway drug—he soon starts experimenting with telescopes.

MICROSCOPE’s ultimate goal is to beat other measurements by a factor of 100, comparing the cylinders’ accelerations to see whether they match within a tenth of a trillionth of a percent.

Illustrations of insects made using one of Galileo's microscopes, and published in 1625, appear to have been the first clear documentation of the use of a compound microscope. The phases of Venus ...

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born while Galileo was still alive, and he ended up developing a similar skill in lens making to that of Galileo. Galileo turned his results to the heavens and began a ...