THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1909. NATIONAL OBSERVATORY.
Three hundred years will have passed away at some uncertain date in this present year since Galileo invented the first telescope used for astronomi cal research in Europe. Only a few years ago we might have ventured to go farther than this, and called the great invention of Galileo the first of its kind which the world had seen; but it may be the statement would have been a rash one. Year after year the evidences of past discoveries that have been swept out of memory, only to be re-discovered in later times, seem to accumulate, and it is far from impossible that some Egyptian eage, or Chinese philosopher, had prediscovered the instrument that has made the name of Galileo one of the household words of modern science. But after all it matters little to the world of science to-day whether the astronomers of Ancient Egypt or of China before its people were overtaken by the sleep which has retarded their progress s> long, had really dis I covered an instrument answering the [ purposes of the astronomical telej scope or not; it was Galileo's invention that really opened the gate of knowledge in astronomy to the world of modern times. Great minds have taken up the work which nis invention rendered possible—some nf them, it may well be, greater than the Italian man of genius who showed them the way. Great inventors have arisen, and no doubt will continue to arise, who have developed, and will yet develop still further, the powers of the instrument which he originally designed. By doing so they will increase the world's knowledge, and deserve the gratitude of future ages; but they will not deprive the Italian philosopher of the credit due to the man who, in the face of obstacles we can hardly imagine or appreciate today, took the first steps that rendered possible the knowledge which our age possesses of the universe, i A suggestion made a few days ago by Professor Segar in his lecture on J ''Comets" comes with special fitness in this memorial year, and, curiously enough, it may be said to find a special suitability from the past history of New Zealand. The professor's suggestion was that the time had arrived when the Dominion should take steps to found a national observatory, following the examples set by New South Wales and Victoria, both of which States have, years ago, when much leas able to bear the expense involved than New Zealand is at present, made ample provision for astronomical study, by establishing such institutions. He might have added to his argument in favour of such an under-1 taking here that the Dominion may fairly be said to be the child of
astronomical science, and, therefore, it becomes her, more than ether
countries to take special interest in \ the science which practically gave I her birth as a land of civilisation and knowledge. The discovery of these islands by the Dutch navigator, Tasman, more than two centuries and a-half ago, did almost nothing for the world's geographical knowledge, and absolutely nothing for the future of the isands t<i which he gave a name, or of their people, whom he carefully avoided. It was reserved for Captain Cook, in the prosecution of astronomical research, to lift for the first time the veil that hung over these far-away islands, and to turn the attention of Englishmen upon the land, and its people. New Zealand to-day is the natural result of this attention: and there could hardly be anything more appropriate than that this centenary year of the invention of the astronomical telescope should be celebrated by carrying out the suggestion of Professor Segar.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9576, 24 August 1909, Page 4
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622THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1909. NATIONAL OBSERVATORY. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9576, 24 August 1909, Page 4
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