May 7

Have you ever noticed how incredibly bright the Sun is? Has anyone ever told you that it is never a good idea to stare directly at the Sun? I know that it was certainly mentioned to me. Apparently, no one ever told David Fabricus about that being a bad idea. Born in Germany, David died on the 7th in 1617. He dabbled in astronomy. The telescope was not in wide use at the time and the observations that David made were with the naked eye. His son, Johannes, was sent to school in the Netherlands and on one of his visits home, he brought with him a telescope. It is rarely recommended, but among the first things David and his son did with this new-fangled telescope was direct it at the sun so they could both get a better look at it. Aside from a headache and blurred vision resulting from staring directly at the sun, the two men discovered Sunspots. Their observations would also lead to their discovery that the sun rotated much as the earth does.