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Four hundred years ago, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei heard stories of a miraculous ‘spy glass’ that made things look three times closer than they really are, wondered whether he could make a better one, and was soon observing stars and phenomena in the night sky that no-one had ever seen before. His discoveries changed the course of science and changed our view of the cosmos, and are being celebrated in the International Year of Astronomy 2009. In this episode of Discovery, Roland Pease travels to Florence, to see Galileo’s surviving telescopes, and learn about his efforts.