Species Caesia brevifolia

For Federico Cesi (Fridericus Caesius) (1585–1630), Italian scientist, botanist, microscopist and supporter of Galileo. When he was around 17 (1603), he founded the Accademia dei Lincei (academy of the lynx-eyed) in Rome. This first international scientific society existed in great secrecy in its early years. Galileo joined the Accademia in 1611 and donated his microscope to Cesi and the Accademia. After the condemnation of Copernicus, followed by Cesi’s death and Galileo’s condemnation, the Accademia ceased to exist. He was the first person to discover that ferns have spores. The words microscope and telescope were first used by Johannes Faber (1574–1629) in a letter of 13 April 1625 to Duke Federico Cesi (1585–1630).