Is it true that philosophers refused to look through Galileos telescope?
Yes. Among others, at least one of Galileo’s colleagues at the University of Padua, the philosopher Cesare Cremonini, refused to look through Galileo’s telescope at the rugged lunar surface. But such cases were very much the exception. Most people, and especially his fellow astronomers, were actually eager to get a look through a telescope, which was a rare opportunity in those days. However, many observers were skeptical at first that the sights revealed in the telescope were really in the sky and not some kind of reflections, flaws, or tricks in the instrument itself. As the knowledge of how to make and use good telescopes spread, with Galileo’s encouragement, this attitude quickly subsided.
