Texts & cultural history
Jacques Badovere
Correspondent in the early telescope network
Also known as Jacques Badouère
Who they are
Jacques Badovere was a French correspondent whom Galileo credited with confirming news of a newly devised telescope. Galileo’s account says the letter arrived from Paris and encouraged him to investigate the instrument’s principles and construction. Badovere’s documented place in this story is the transmission of information between people, rather than invention of the telescope.
He shows how correspondence helped a new instrument reach an astronomer who developed it for observation.
Selected contributions
- Sent the letter Galileo identified as confirmation of reports of the Dutch telescope.Source ↗
Primary records
Book · 1610
Sidereus nuncius (The Sidereal Messenger)
Galileo reports telescopic observations of the Moon, previously unseen stars and the changing objects near Jupiter. His repeated observations support identifying four Jovian satellites.
Original work 1610; linked Edward Stafford Carlos English translation published in 1880.
Reading scope & citation
Reuses documented prior inspection: Relevant sections of the translated 1610 text inspected. The translator's introduction and appended later writings are distinguished from the 1610 work. Fresh translated title/edition pages, introductory telescope account and Badovere passage read; not all observations or drawings audited.
In the timeline
Biography sources
- The Sidereal Messenger ↗1880 translation, reproduced by Project Gutenberg