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For a short video on Galileo and his telescope, scan here:

The Venetian authorities did not buy Lippershey’s instrument. Instead, Galileo presented them with one of his own. It was far superior to Lippershey’s in power and quality. From the tower in St Mark’s Square, ships could be seen heading for the port of Venice two hours before they were visible to the naked eye. Galileo was soon pointing his telescope upward, toward the stars. His astronomical discoveries made him famous all over Europe. But those discoveries, and his interpretations of them, ultimately led to persecution by the Roman Catholic Church. His scientific theories put him in opposition to a philosophy of nature that was accepted almost without question. That philosophy had remained intact for almost 2,000 years. Galileo was a distinguished scientist—a “mathematician and philosopher,” as he liked to call himself. He wrote and argued about his ideas. He talked of his experiments much as scientists do today. Why, then, was he treated so harshly? A Revival of the Ancients By the end of the 1500s, science had not yet shown itself to be useful in expanding our knowledge of the world. Galileo was to prove to be one of the pioneers of the movement that gave science the credibility it now enjoys.

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