Galileo has been called the “father of modern science”. His observations of the night sky in the early 1600s confirmed a new model of the universe, where the Earth orbited the sun—not the other way around. But before he was studying the universe, Galileo was working on practical problems. And his early goals for the telescope weren’t so scientific. Podcast produced by David Levin. Origial interview by David Axelrod. NOVA is produced by WGBH in Boston. Funding for NOVA is provided by ExxonMobil, David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. Additional funding for "Hunting the Edge of Space" is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. To learn more about the history of the telescope, go to pbs.org/nova/telescope.