2009 Year of Astronomy

It is four hundred years since Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) constructed his version of the telescope.

Courtesy to Wikepedia:

In 1609, Galileo was, along with Englishman Thomas Harriot and others, among the first to use arefracting telescope as an instrument to observe stars, planets or moons. The name "telescope" was coined for Galileo's instrument by a Greek mathematician, Giovanni Demisiani, at a banquet held in 1611 by Prince Federico Cesi to make Galileo a member of his Accademia dei Lincei. The name was derived from the Greek tele = 'far' and skopein = 'to look or see'. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo#cite_note-3