Did Galileo go blind from studying the sun through a telescope?

Juggernaut314

It's a popular rumor, but multiple sources say that he went blind from glaucoma and cataracts -- which wouldn't be caused by looking at the sun. From http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html: "The truth is that Galileo became blind at the age of 72, from a combination of cataracts and glaucoma [see D. Sobel, “Galileo's Daughter,” (Walker & Co., New York, (1999); p. 354]. This had nothing to do with his telescopic observations of the Sun a quarter of a century earlier, which were initially made only near sunrise and sunset, and later made by projection; in neither case could he have damaged his eyes." Mar 09 10, 4:44 PM

gymkarter13

*** cataracts cause blindness*** and you can get cataracts from looking at the sun.... been there/done that... Mar 11 10, 12:18 PM