Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Objective lens, Padua, late 1609
Florence, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, inv. 2429

This is the objective lens of the telescope with which Galileo conducted his first campaign of celestial discoveries. He donated the lens to Grand Duke Cosimo II, who had it set in this solemn trophy and put it on display in the Uffizi Gallery. The lens was accidentally dropped in the 17th century.