Jacob (Jacobus; sometimes James) Metius (after 1571–1628) was a Dutch instrument-maker and a specialist in grinding

lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

. He is primarily known for the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

application he made for an

optical telescope An optical telescope is a telescope that gathers and focuses light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, to create a magnified image for direct visual inspection, to make a photograph, or to collect data through electro ...

in October 1608, a few weeks after

Hans Lippershey Hans Lipperhey (circa 1570 – buried 29 September 1619), also known as Johann Lippershey or Lippershey, was a German- Dutch spectacle-maker. He is commonly associated with the invention of the telescope, because he was the first one who tried to ...

submitted a patent for the same device. He was the brother of the geometer and astronomer

Adriaan Metius Adriaan Adriaanszoon, called Metius, (9 December 1571 – 6 September 1635), was a Dutch geometer and astronomer born in Alkmaar. The name "Metius" comes from the Dutch word ''meten'' ("measuring"), and therefore means something like "measurer" o ...

Biography

Little is known of Jacob Metius other than he lived his life in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

. His father was Adriaan Anthonisz, a mathematician/map-maker/military engineer and Alkmaar

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...

, and his brother was Adriaan Metius. Jacob's date of birth was some time after his brother's (1571). He died in Alkmaar, his death date usually given in sources as 1628 although some put it between 1624 and 1631.

Invention of the telescope

In October 1608, the

States General The word States-General, or Estates-General, may refer to: Currently in use * Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec, the name of a commission set up by the government of Quebec on June 29, 2000 * States Genera ...

discussed Jacob Metius's patent application for a device for "seeing faraway things as though nearby", consisting of a convex and concave lens in a tube, and the combination magnified three or four times. His use of a convex

objective lens In optical engineering, the objective is the optical element that gathers light from the object being observed and Focus (optics), focuses the ray (optics), light rays to produce a real image. Objectives can be a single Lens (optics), lens or mirr ...

and concave

eyepiece An eyepiece, or ocular lens, is a type of lens that is attached to a variety of optical devices such as telescopes and microscopes. It is named because it is usually the lens that is closest to the eye when someone looks through the device. The ...

may have been a superior design to the Lippershey telescope design which was submitted for patent only a few weeks before Metius'. Metius informed the States General that he was familiar with the secrets of

glassmaking Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

and that he could make an even better telescope with the government's support. The States General voted him a small award, although it ended up employing Lippershey to make binocular versions of the telescope. Metius is described as feeling rebuffed by the States General, withdrawing his patent, and not allowing anyone to see his telescope. His

will and testament A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...

ordered that all his tools and designs be destroyed to prevent anyone else from profiting from them. There is a claim by Johannes Zachariassen,

Zacharias Janssen Zacharias Janssen; also Zacharias Jansen or Sacharias Jansen; 1585 – pre-1632) was a Dutch spectacle-maker who lived most of his life in Middelburg. He is associated with the invention of the first optical telescope and/or the first truly ...

's son, that Janssen had invented the telescope and that (Adriaan) Metius and

Cornelis Drebbel Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel ( ) (1572 – 7 November 1633) was a Dutch engineer and inventor. He was the builder of the first operational submarine in 1620 and an innovator who contributed to the development of measurement and control systems, op ...

had bought a telescope from him and his father in 1620 and copied it, although this claim is put in doubt since Adriaen Metius was using telescopes by 1613, Drebbel had described them in 1609, and Jacob Metius had tried to patent one in 1608.Albert Van Helden, Sven Dupre, Rob Van Gent, ''The Origins of the Telescope'', 2011, page 43
- Huib Zuidervaart, ''The 'true inventor' of the telescope. A survey of 400 years of debate'', KNAW Press, 2012, page 24

References

"What do we know about Metius?"
The Galileo Project''
Archimedes Project: Hutton, Charles Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary 1795
*

Daniel J. Boorstin Daniel Joseph Boorstin (October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in ...

, ''The Discoverers'' (New York: Random House, 1983), 315. {{DEFAULTSORT:Metius, Jacob 1570s births 1628 deaths Optical engineers People from Alkmaar 17th-century Dutch inventors Dutch scientific instrument makers

Biography

Invention of the telescope

See also

References