Optics timeline (up to 1850)

1
OPTICS
TIMELINE
(up to 1850)
SOLO HERMELIN
Updated: 6.08.08
Run This
http://www.solohermelin.com

2
SOLO
Glass History 2500 BC
Earliest known glass. Little is known
about the first attempts to make glass.
The Roman historian Pliny attributed
it to Phoenician sailors. He recounted
how they landed on a beach, propped
a cooking pot on some blocks of
natran they were carrying as cargo,
and made a fire over which to cook a
meal. To their surprise, the sand
beneath the fire melted and ran in a
liquid stream that later cooled and
hardened into glass.

3
SOLO
After 1500 BC, Egyptian craftsmen are known to have begun
developing a method for producing glass pots by dipping a core
mould of compacted sand into molten glass and then turning the
mould so that molten glass adhered to it. While still soft, the glass-
covered mould could then be rolled on a slab of stone in order to
smooth or decorate it. The earliest examples of Egyptian glassware
are three vases bearing the name of the Pharaoh Thoutmosis III
(1504-1450 BC), who brought glassmakers to Egypt as prisoners
following a successful military campaign in Asia.
Thutmosis III statue I
nLuxor Museum
There is little evidence of further evolution until the 9th
century BC, when glassmaking revived in Mesopotamia.
Over the following 500 years, glass production centred on
Alessandria, from where it is thought to have spread to
Italy.
900 BC

4
Optics HistorySOLO
The earliest known lenses were made from ground crystal, often
quartz, and have been dated as early as 700 BC for Assyrian
lenses such as the Layard lens / Nimrud lens. There are many
similar lenses from ancient Egypt, Greece and Babylon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lensmaking
LAYARD LENS
Layard discovered this lens (right) which is considered the
first used (or found) plano-convex lens. This lens however
was not "ground" and polished round but had facets which
limited it's ability to magnify. It has been said that this lens
could actually have been only an ornament or menagerie.
The reproduction shown here shows both a horizontal and
straight view.
http://www.precinemahistory.net/900.htm
The Nimrud lens is a 3000 year old piece of rock crystal, which was
unearthed by Austen Henry Layard at the palace of Nimrud in
what is now Iraq (originally in Assyria. It may have been used as a
magnifying glass, or as a burning-glass to start fires by
concentrating sunlight. Assyrian craftsmen made intricate
engravings, and could have used such a lens in their work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud_lens
Nimrud/Layard Lens 705 – 721 B.C.
Sir Austen Henry Layard
1894 - 1817

5
SOLO
The first glassmaking "manual" dates back to around 650 BC.
Instructions on how to make glass are contained in tablets from the
library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669-626 BC).
A major breakthrough in glassmaking was the discovery of
glassblowing some time between 27 BC and AD 14,
attributed to Syrian craftsmen from the Sidon-Babylon area.
The long thin metal tube used in the blowing process has
changed very little since then. In the last century BC, the
ancient Romans then began blowing glass inside moulds,
greatly increasing the variety of shapes possible for hollow
glass items.
2700 BC – 1400 AD
Ashurbanipal
(669-626BC) .
The clay tablet library of the Assyrian king Assubanipal (700
BC) contains the oldest remaining glass recipe:“Take 60 parts
sand, 180 parts ash from sea plants, 5 parts chalk- and you get
glass.”
http://www.schott.com/english/company/experience_glass/history.html
http://www.glassonline.com/infoserv/history.html

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Optics HistorySOLO
c. 490-430 B.C.
Empedocles
Sicily
Light constitute of small particles that were presumed
to enter the eyes and then returned to visible bodies
c. 384-332 B.C.
Aristotel
Greece
Light is the activity of “transparent” (i.e. visible) bodies.
c. 300 B.C.
Euclid
Greece
“Optica” 280 B.C.
Rectilinear propagation of Light. Law of Reflection.
Light originate in the eye, illuminates the object seen,
and then returns to the eye.
“Catoptrics”
The Light travels the shortest path between two points.
c. 100 B.C-150 A.C.
Heron
Alexandria
100-170 A.D.
Claudius Ptolemey
Alexandria
“Optics” 130 A.D.
Tabulated angle of incidence and refraction for
several media.

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SOLO
Glass History 100 AD
The Romans also did much to spread glassmaking technology. With its conquests, trade
relations, road building, and effective political and economical administration, the Roman
Empire created the conditions for the flourishing of glassworks across western Europe
and the Mediterranean. During the reign of the emperor Augustus, glass objects began to
appear throughout Italy, in France, Germany and Switzerland. Roman glass has even
been found as far afield as China, shipped there along the silk routes.
It was the Romans who began to use glass for architectural purposes, with the discovery of
clear glass (through the introduction of manganese oxide) in Alexandria around AD 100.
Cast glass windows, albeit with poor optical qualities, thus began to appear in the most
important buildings in Rome and the most luxurious villas of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
With the geographical division of the empires, glass craftsmen began to migrate less, and
eastern and western glassware gradually acquired more distinct characteristics.
Alexandria remained the most important glassmaking area in the East, producing luxury
glass items mainly for export. The world famous Portland Vase is perhaps the finest
known example of Alexandrian skills. In Rome's Western empire, the city of Köln in the
Rhineland developed as the hub of the glassmaking industry, adopting, however, mainly
eastern techniques. Then, the decline of the Roman Empire and culture slowed progress in
the field of glassmaking techniques, particularly through the 5th century. Germanic
glassware became less ornate, with craftsmen abandoning or not developing the
decorating skills they had acquired.
The Roman Connection

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SOLO
Glass History
7 - 8 Centuries
Archaeological excavations on the island of Torcello near Venice, Italy, have unearthed
objects from the late 7th and early 8th centuries which bear witness to the transition from
ancient to early Middle Ages production of glass.
The early Middle Ages
Chemical investigation of the various glasses from different levels at Torcello
indicates a slow transformation of glass techniques from Roman natron-based glass to
what would become Venetian soda-ash based glass. The soda-ash based production
allows the creation of an opaque glass for the first time.
Glass Making at Torcello
http://archaeology.about.com/od/tterms/qt/torcello.htm
Archaeological evidence suggests that Torcello was occupied by the Romans at
least by the first century AD. Evidence for glass-working, in the form of crucibles,
flat glass, glass waste, vessels and sherds, and tesserae from mosaics, have been
consistently found in levels dated between 7th and the 13th centuries. A glass-
making furnace, with chambers for fritting and annealing, has been discovered and
securely dated to the 7th-8th century AD. The structure conforms mostly to Roman
concepts of furnace construction, rather than later Venetian manufacturing
constructs.

SOLO
Glass History
9 CenturyAbū-Yūsuf Ya’qūb ibn Ishāq al-Kindī
‫الكندي‬ ‫إسحاق‬ ‫ابن‬ ‫يعقوب‬ ‫يوسف‬ ‫أبو‬
Abū-Yūsuf Ya’qūb ibn Ishāq
al-Kindī
)801–873(
Al-Kindi, was an Arab Iraqi polymath] an Islamic philosopher, scientist,
astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician,
musician, physician, physicist, psychologist, and meteorologist] Al-Kindi
was the first of the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for his
efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Ara world, and
as a pioneer in chemistry, cryptography, medicine, music theory, physics,
psychology, and the philosophy of science.
The factor which al-Kindi relied upon to determine which of the existing
theories was most correct was how adequately each one explained the
experience of seeing. For example, Aristotle's theory was unable to
account for why the angle at which an individual sees an object affects
his perception of it. For example, why a circle viewed from the side will
appear as a line. According to Aristotle, the complete sensible form of a circle should be transmitted to
the eye and it should appear as a circle. On the other hand, Euclidian optics provided a geometric model
that was able to account for this, as well as the length of shadows and reflections in mirrors, because
Euclid believed that the visual "rays" could only travel in straight lines (something which is commonly
accepted in modern science). For this reason, al-Kindi considered the latter preponderant.[36]
In his Kitab al-Shu'a'at (Book of the Rays), al-Kindi wrote the following criticism on Anthemius of
Tralles for reporting how "ships were set aflame by burning mirrors during a naval battle" without
empirical evidence.[
Optics

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Optics HistorySOLO
Ibn-Sahl c 940-1000
Ibn Sahl (Abu Sa`d al-`Ala' ibn Sahl) (c. 940-1000) was an Arabian mathematician,
physicist and optics engineer associated with the Abbasid court of Baghdad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Sahl
About 984 he wrote a treatise On Burning Mirrors and Lenses in which he set out
his understanding of how curved mirrors and lenses bend and focus light.
Ibn Sahl is credited with first discovering the law of
refraction, usually called Snell's law.
He used the law of refraction to work out the shapes of
lenses that focus light with no geometric aberrations,
known as anaclastic lenses.
984
Reproduction of a page of Ibn Sahl's
manuscript showing his discovery of
the law of refraction (from Rashed,
1990).
Ibn-Sahl anaclastic lens
(hyperbolic lens that focus
light with no geometric
aberrations)
http://www.brayebrookobservatory.org/
In the remaining parts of the treatise, Ibn Sahl dealt with parabolic mirrors,
ellipsoidal mirrors , biconvex lenses, and techniques for drawing .
Ibn Sahl's treatise was used by Ibn al-Haitham (965–1039), one of the greatest Arabic
scholars of optics.

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Optics HistorySOLO
965-1040
Ibn-al-Haytham
(Alhazen)
Basra
Discussed concave and convex mirrors in both cylindrical
and spherical geometries, anticipated Fermat law.
Describes the optical system of eye and beliefs that light
consists of rays which originate in the object seen, and not
in the eye.
Light travels with constant speed and the speed is smaller
in more condense media.
The efforts of Alhazen resulted in over one hundred works, the most famous of
which was Kitab-al-Manadhirn, rendered into Latin in the Middle Ages. The
translation of the book on optics exerted a great influence upon the science of the
western world, most notably on the work of Roger Bacon and Johannes Kepler. A
significant observation in the work contradicted the beliefs of many great scientists,
such as Ptolemy and Euclid. Alhazen correctly proposed that the eyes passively
receive light reflected from objects, rather than emanating light rays themselves. The
work also contained a detailed examination of the laws of reflection and refraction,
which is accurately explained by the slower movement of light through denser
substances. Furthermore, the question known as Alhazen's problem, which involves
determining the point of reflection from a surface given the center of the eye and the
observed point, is presented and answered through the use of conic sections.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/alhazen.html

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SOLO
Glass History 11 Century
The 11th century also saw the development by German glass craftsmen of a technique -
then further developed by Venetian craftsmen in the 13th century - for the production of
glass sheets. By blowing a hollow glass sphere and swinging it vertically, gravity would
pull the glass into a cylindrical "pod" measuring as much as 3 metres long, with a width
of up to 45 cm. While still hot, the ends of the pod were cut off and the resulting cylinder
cut lengthways and laid flat. Other types of sheet glass included crown glass (also known
as "bullions"), relatively common across western Europe. With this technique, a glass ball
was blown and then opened outwards on the opposite side to the pipe. Spinning the semi-
molten ball then caused it to flatten and increase in size, but only up to a limited diameter.
The panes thus created would then be joined with lead strips and pieced together to create
windows. Glazing remained, however, a great luxury up to the late Middle Ages, with royal
palaces and churches the most likely buildings to have glass windows. Stained glass
windows reached their peak as the Middle Ages drew to a close, with an increasing
number of public buildings, inns and the homes of the wealthy fitted with clear or coloured
glass decorated with historical scenes and coats of arms.
Sheet glass skills

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Optics HistorySOLO
1175-1253
Robert Grosseteste
Chancellor of
Oxford University
and
Bishop of Lincoln
“De Natura Locorum”
Considered that light was the basis of all matter and
stressed the importance of mathematics and geometry in
their study. He belived that colors are related to intensity.
Optic studies from De Natura Locorum. The
diagram shows light being refracted by a spherical
glass container full of water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Grosseteste

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Optics HistorySOLO
Followed Grosseteste work at Oxford.
Initiate the idea of using lens to correct vision “Opus Maius”
he gives a description of a telescope. He is known by his
insistence in conducting systematic observations and
experiments. He also discover the camera obscura.
Optic studies by Bacon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon
His most important mathematical contribution is the application of
geometry to optics. He said:
-Mathematics is the door and the key to the sciences.
Bacon had read al-Haytham's Optics and this made him realise the
importance of the applications of mathematics to real word
problems. He followed Grosseteste in emphasising the use of lenses
for magnification to aid natural vision. He carried out some
systematic observations with lenses and mirrors. He seems to have
planned and interpreted these experiments with a remarkably
modern scientific approach. However many experiments are
described in his writings which he never carried out in practice.
In “De mirabile potestate artis et naturae”, which is essentially a
letter written around 1250, Bacon described his scientific ideas, in
particular his ideas for mechanical devices and some of his optical
achievements.
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/
~history/Biographies/Bacon.html
Roger Bacon (1214 – 1294)

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Optics HistorySOLO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pecham
John Peckham or Pecham (circa 1230 – 1292)
John Peckham, was Archbishop of Canterbury in the years 1279–1292.
He was a native of Sussex who was educated at Lewes Priory and became a Franciscan
monk about 1250.
Peckham also studied optics
and astronomy, and his
studies in those subjects
were influenced by Roger
Bacon.
Perspectiva communis – Pecham 1504 Edition
Where Peckham met Bacon
is not known, but it would
have been at either Paris or
Oxford. Bacon's influence
can be seen in Peckham's
works on optics (the
Perspectiva communis) and
astronomy.

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Optics HistorySOLO
1230-1275
Witelo Erazmus
Silezia - Poland
“Perspectiva” cc.1270 a standard text in optics for
several centuries.
Covers geometrical optics, reflection and refraction
1270
Witelo’s classic treatise on optics is thought to have been completed
around 1270. Similar to other texts of the period, it was copied by
hand and circulated in manuscript form. The original manuscript
has not been preserved, but a version of the text edited by the
astronomer Regiomontanus was printed as a book in the mid-
sixteenth century. Many scholars argue that Perspectiva is based at
least partly on the Greek translation of the works of the Arab
scholar Alhazen (965-1040), but the point is a contentious one.
Undoubtedly many of the ideas proposed by the two men were
similar. For instance, both Witelo and Alhazen rejected the common
conception at the time that light rays were emitted from the eyes,
instead suggesting that the eyes were passive receivers of light
reflected from other objects. However, such parallels do not
necessarily indicate that one text was copied from the other, and the
modern scholarly debate about the matter is ongoing.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/witelo.html

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SOLO
Glass History
1271
In the Middle Ages, the Italian city of Venice assumed its role as the glassmaking centre of the
western world. The Venetian merchant fleet ruled the Mediterranean waves and helped supply
Venice's glass craftsmen with the technical know-how of their counterparts in Syria, and with the
artistic influence of Islam. The importance of the glass industry in Venice can be seen not only in the
number of craftsmen at work there (more than 8,000 at one point). A 1271 ordinance, a type of glass
sector statute, laid down certain protectionist measures such as a ban on imports of foreign glass and a
ban on foreign glassmakers who wished to work in Venice: non-Venetian craftsmen were themselves
clearly sufficiently skilled to pose a threat.
Venice
Until the end of the 13th century, most glassmaking in Venice took place in the city itself.
However, the frequent fires caused by the furnaces led the city authorities, in 1291, to order the
transfer of glassmaking to the island of Murano. The measure also made it easier for the city to
keep an eye on what was one of its main assets, ensuring that no glassmaking skills or secrets were
exported.
1291
Byzantine craftsmen played an important role in the development of Venetian glass, an art
form for which the city is well-known. When Constantinople was sacked by the Fourth
Crusade in 1204, some fleeing artisans came to Venice.
It wasn't long until Murano's glassmakers were the leading citizens on the island. Artisans were granted
the right to wear swords and enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the notoriously high-handed Venetian
state. By the late 14th Century, the daughters of glassmakers were allowed to marry into Venice's blue-
blooded families.

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Optics HistorySOLO
1230-1275
Albertus Magnus
England
1275
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/magnus.html
The English Dominican scholar Albertus
Magnus (later St. Albertus Magnus, the patron
saint of the natural sciences) studies the
rainbow effect of light and speculates that the
velocity of light is extremely fast, but finite. He
also examines the darkening action of bright
sunlight on crystals of silver nitrate.
He has something to say on the refraction of the solar ray, notices certain crystals which
have a power of refraction, and remarks that none of the ancients, and few moderns,
were acquainted with the properties of mirrors. In his tenth book, wherein he catalogues
and describes all the trees, plants, and herbs known in his time, he observes, 'all that is
here set down is the result of our own experience, or has been borrowed from authors
whom we know to have written what their personal experience confirmed; for in these
matters experience alone can give certainty.' (Experimentum solum certificat de
talibus.) Such an expression, which might have proceeded from the pen of Bacon,
argues in itself a prodigious scientific progress and shows the medieval friar was on the
track so successfully pursued by modern natural philosophy
http://www2.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/staamp3.htm

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Optics HistorySOLO
1303
Bernard de Gordon of Montpelier
Bernard de Gordon, fl. c. 1285-1308, a French physician in Montpellier, was a
contemporary of Gilbert the Englishman. In his “Lilium Medicinae” … describes
spectacles for the first time. Eyeglasses were invented in Tuscany between 1280
and 1285. Merton College Library owned a copy of “Lilium Medicinae” between
1360 and 1385
http://www.columbia.edu/dlc/garland/deweever/B/bernard2.htm
http://www.antiquespectacles.com/statements/1600.htm
Bernard of Gordon, a French physician, writes in a volume of his medical
series Lilium Medicinae about the use of spectacles as a means of correcting far-
sightedness--the first written record of lenses being used to correct vision
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/1000-1599.html

20
Theodoric (Dietrich) of Freiberg. Theodoric explained the rainbow as
a consequence of refraction and internal reflection within individual
raindrops. He gave an explanation for the appearance of a primary
and secondary bow but, following earlier notions, he considered colour
to arise from a combination of darkness and brightness in different
proportions
Optics HistorySOLO
1304
http://members.aol.com/WSRNet/D1/hist.htm
http://www.cnusd.k12.ca.us/community_day_school/history/optics.html
Dietrich von Freiberg uses crystalline spheres and flasks filled with water to study the
reflection and refraction in raindrops that leads to primary and secondary rainbows.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_electromagnetism_and_classical_optics
E.R. Huggins, “Geometrical Optics”, p.16

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Camera Obscura
SOLO
1337
LEVI BEN GERSHON (ALSO GERSON or GERSEN) (1288 - 1344)
This Jewish philosopher and mathematician was also known as LEON DE
BAGNOIS. Gershon wrote in his 'Hebrew De Sinibus Chordis Et Arcubus', ways of
observing solar eclipses using the camera obscura. He commented that no harm
came to his eyes when using this effect. His observances and writings are similar to
those of his predecessor, Alhazen.
Levi observed a solar eclipse in 1337. After he had observed this event he
proposed a new theory of the sun which he proceeded to test by further
observations. Another eclipse observed by Levi was the eclipse of the Moon on 3
October 1335. He described a geometrical model for the motion of the Moon
and made other astronomical observations of the Moon, Sun and planets using a
camera obscura.
Some of his beliefs were well wide of the truth, such as his belief that the Milky
Way was on the sphere of the fixed stars and shines by the reflected light of the
Sun. Gersonides was also the earliest known mathematician to have used the
technique of mathematical induction in a systematic and self-conscious fashion
and anticipated Galileo’s error theory.[9]
The lunar crater Rabbi Levi is named after him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gersonides

22
SOLO Glass History
14 Century
In the 14th century, another important Italian glassmaking industry developed at Altare,
near Genoa. Its importance lies largely in the fact that it was not subject to the strict
statutes of Venice as regards the exporting of glass working skills. Thus, during the 16th
century, craftsmen from Altare helped extend the new styles and techniques of Italian
glass to other parts of Europe, particularly France.
Venice
In the second half of the 15th century, the craftsmen of Murano started
using quartz sand and potash made from sea plants to produce particularly
pure crystal. By the end of the 16th century, 3,000 of the island's 7,000
inhabitants were involved in some way in the glassmaking industry.
15 – 16 Century
What made Murano's glassmakers so special? For one thing, they were the only people
in Europe who knew how to make glass mirrors. They also developed or refined
technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold
(aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones
made of glass. Their virtual monopoly on quality glass lasted for centuries, until
glassmakers in Northern and Central Europe introduced new techniques and fashions
around the same time that colonists were emigrating to the New World.

23
Optics HistorySOLO
1435
Color theory principles first appear in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti (c.1435)
Color Theory
Late statue of Leon
Battista Alberti.
Courtyard of the
Uffizi Gallery,
Florence
Leon Battista Alberti
1404 - 1472
His treatise (Della Pittura ) was also known in Latin
as De Pictura, and it relied in its scientific content on
classical optics in determining perspective as a
geometric instrument of artistic and architectural
representation. Alberti was well-versed in the
sciences of his age. His knowledge of optics was
connected to the handed-down long-standing
tradition of the Kitab al-manazir (The Optics; De
aspectibus) of the Arab polymath Alhazen (Ibn al-
Haytham, d. ca. 1041), which was mediated by
Franciscan optical workshops of the 13th-century
Perspectivae traditions of scholars such as Roger
Bacon, John Peckham and Witelo (similar
influences are also traceable in the third
commentary of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Commentario
terzo).[3]

24
Optics HistorySOLO
1480
Da Vinci was intrigued with the study of optics and conducted extensive investigations and
made drawings about the nature of light, reflections, and shadows. Even though it was not
until over 100 years later that the first telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey, da Vinci
realized the possibility of using lenses and mirrors to view heavenly bodies. In his notebooks he
writes of:
“...making glasses to see the Moon enlarged... and ...in order to observe the nature of the
planets, open the roof and bring the image of a single planet onto the base of a concave mirror.
The image of the planet reflected by the base will show the surface of the planet much
magnified.”
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/davinci.html
Leomardo da Vinci (Italy) studies the reflection of light and
compares it to the reflection of sound waves.
Leonardo's sketch of the Lens Grinding Machine for
long focal length mirrors
http://leonardodavinci.stanford.edu/projects/mirror/jg_tj.html
Leonardo's sketch of the Lens Grinding Machine for
short focal length mirrors

25
Camera ObscuraSOLO
1515
Vinci gives the fullest description known to date on the camera
obscura. Due to Vinci's special form of writing (written backwards
called Mirror Writing), his work on the camera would not become
common knowledge in the civilized world for almost three
centuries. His 'Codex Atlanticus' (Vinci, Leonardo, Ambrosian
Library, Milan, Italy, Recto A of Folio 337), and 'Manuscript D'
(Manuscript D, Vinci, Leonardo, Institut de France, Paris, Folio
8) both give detailed accounts of the camera obscura effect,
observations, diagrams and explanations of it's principle. In all of
Da Vinci's works there are 270 separate diagrams of the camera
obscura. These descriptions would remain unknown of for 297
years when Professor Venturi would decipher and publish them in
1797
Leonardo gave us this drawing (lower left) of a lantern showing clearly a condensing
lens, candle and chimney. None of Leonardo's writings indicate any hint of him
actually projecting images, however this illustration from the master strongly suggests
a figure of some type between the candle and lens.

26
Optics HistorySOLO
1520
Francisco Maurolico's “Photismi de lumine et umbra” concerns the
refraction of light and attempted to explain the natural phenomenon of
the rainbow. It was completed in 1521 but was published posthumously in
1611. He also studied the camera obscura.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Maurolico
Francisco Maurolycus
1494 - 1575
Franciscus Maurolycus,a Jesuit priest, astronomer and mathematician, writes “De
Subtilitate”, in which he discusses theories on light, theaters, and light theaters. In
1521, he finishes “Theoremata De Lumine Et Umbra Ad Perspectivam”, an explanation
about how to build a microscope. Maurolycus also observes that in a pinhole camera, an
object's shadow moves in the opposite direction from the object and he observes solar
eclipses with a camera obscura.

27
Camera ObscuraSOLO
1544
A Dutch mathematician and physician, Gemma-Frisius observes and
illustrates (believed to be the initial account) the eclipse of January 24,
1544 using the camera obscura. He refers to his mentor's (Reinhold)
commentary on Pauerbach when he says "we have also observed an
eclipse of the sun at Louvain in 1544." He publishes his illustration in
1545 and titles it 'De Radio Astronomica Et Geometrico'. (Gemma-
Frisius, Antwerp, 1545, leaf 31).
REINERUS GEMMA-FRISIUS (1508 - 1555)
Reinerus Gemma-Frisius's illustration
(left) of the solar eclipse he observed in
Louvain on January 24, 1544.

28
SOLO
In 1550 Cardano published “De subtilitate libri” in which he
described the use of a bi-convex lens in conjuction with a camera
obscura.
1550
https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/cardano.html
Cardano (1501-1576), a professor of mathematics and a
physician, published in his book 'De Subtilitate Libri'
(XXI, Cardani, Nurnberg, 1550, Book IV, p107) his
makings of a camera obscura with a diverting spectacle
and a very graphic description of darkroom pictures and
their appearances. Cardano appears also to have initiated
the use of a convex lens in the aperture. Cardano was a
showman, and projected wild scenes of the outdoors
along with appropriate sound effects to audiences in the
camera obscura (SEE VIIIENEUVE, c.1290).
http://www.a-website.org/persist/card.html http://www.precinemahistory.net/1400.htm
Optics History

29
SOLO 1551
https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/ 1000-1599.html
Optics History
Erasmus Reinhold (1511 – 1553), a German mathematician
and astronomer, reports using a pinhole camera to observe solar
eclipses and describes in detail how the camera is used. He also
mentions observing his surroundings with the pinhole camera.
The studies in mathematics became the basis of his astronomical research. In
1540 he used the camera obscura for observation for the first time and proved,
that the moon's orbit was not circular, but elliptic…
After decades of research Erasmus Reinhold's most important work "The
Prussian Tables of Coelestrial Motion" was printed in Tübingen, in which he as a
supporter of Copernicanism published calculations of the movement of the
planets and the to be expected solar eclipses.
http://www.erg.slf.th.schule.de/reinhold/kurzbio-e.htm
It seems that even Copernicus's famous “De revolutionibus”, was eagerly awaited by
astronomers for its improved and more accurate tables. In reality, however, the tables
in the “De revolutionibus” were not exhaustive and not terribly useful. Thus,
Erasmus Reinhold set out to re-calculate afresh, from Copernicus's basic parameters,
a new set of astronomical tables. This was the “Prussian Tables” (1551), dedicated to
Albert, Duke of Prussia. Throughout his explanatory canons, Reinhold used as his
paradigm the position of position of Saturn at the birth of the Duke, on 17 May 1490.
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ490.HTM

30
SOLO 1558
Optics History
In 1558, Giovanni Battista Della Porta, (Italy) publishes
“Magiae Naturalis Libri” (Natural Magic), a reference
containing detailed information about a number of sciences
including physics, astronomy, and alchemy. He also mentions
several details about the camera obscura. In a later work, he
compares the human eye to the camera and refers to vision in
terms of refraction, prisms, lenses, and discusses optics in
general.
http://homepages.tscnet.com/omard1/jportat3.html
Giambattista della Porta
(I538-I6I5)
Magiae Naturalis
Book by Della Porta:” De refractione optices” (1589)

31
SOLO 1568
The camera lens evolved from optical lenses developed for other
purposes, and matured with the camera and photographic film. In
1568, a Venetian nobleman, Daniel Barbaro, placed a lens over the
hole in a camera box and studied sharpness of image and focus. His
first lens was from an old man's convex spectacles.
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Camera-Lens.html
The camera obscura started to evolve when it fell into the hands of Daniel Barbaro in
1568. Daniel also published a book called “Practice of Perspective” which
explained how a smaller hole world create a sharper image on the screen, and
how moving the screen closer to the hole, he could create a sharper image. Daniel
Barbaro was the inventor of the lens for use in the camera obscura. These are
some of his notes on its invention:
1. Seeing, therefore, on the paper the outline of things, you can draw with a Pencil all
the perspective and shading and coloring, according to nature.
2. You should choose the glass (lens) which does the best, and you should cover it so
much that you leave a little in the middle clear and open and you will see a still
brighter affect.
The lens that Daniel used was a convex lens from a pair of glasses. He tried a
concave lens but it wouldn’t work. Still this much more evolved form of the
camera was only considered a novelty for use by an artist.
http://library.thinkquest.org/25780/slr.shtml
Optics History
DANIEL BARBARO
(1514 - 1570)

32
SOLO 1572
Optics History
Freidrich Risner (Germany) translates works on optics by Alhazen and
Witelo into a Latin edition that made the concepts and findings of these
scholars accessible to the growing European community of scientists
Friedrich Risner (exact year of birth unknown; died 1580)
was a German mathematician from Hesse who spent much
of his scholarly life at the University of Paris. He is known
for his 1572 publication of "Opticae thesaurus: Alhazeni
Arabis libri septem, nuncprimum editi; Eiusdem liber De
Crepusculis et nubium ascensionibus", a Latinicized
translation of the works of Ibn-al Haitham and Erazmus
Ciolek Witelo, who were both early pioneers in the study of
optics. His translation had great influence on mathmaticians
of that era, such as Kepler, Huygens, and Descartes.
Risner is also credited with construction of the first
portable camera obscura to make artistic topographical
drawings. He used a lightweight wooden hut, with a small
holes and lenses in each wall, and had a cube of paper in the
centre for drawing.
http://www.answers.com/topic/friedrich-risner
FREIDRICH RISNER ( - d. 1580)

33
SOLO 1573Optics History
Florentine astronomer and mathematician Danti speaks of using a
concave mirror in a darkened room to "upright" the image ) Danti's
Edition Of Euclid's Optics, Florence, Italy, 1573(.
IGNATIO (PELLEGRINO RAINALDI) DANTI
(1536 - 1586)
While correcting the vernal equinox in order to recalibrate
deficiencies in the calendar, Danti used the camera obscura to assist
him in determining the height of the mid-day sun. He accomplished
this by placing a small hole in a window of the church to create his
camera. To complete the project he made two other holes in the wall
higher up the building to allow a line of sunlight to strike the
aperture.

34
SOLO 1575Glass History
In the sixteenth century domestic needs were supplied by glass imported
principally from Venice, and Italian workers who settled in London but
did not stay made some in the Venetian manner. In 1575 Queen
Elizabeth I granted Jacopo Verzelini a privilege for twenty-one years,
during which he should make Venice glasses in London and teach
Englishmen the art; at the same time, importation of such glasses was
prohibited by law but possibly not in fact.
Verzelini arrived in London in 1571 and joined the factory of Jean Carré at The
Hall of the Crutched Friars in the City of London. The following year, after Carré’s
death, he took charge of the factory and in 1574 Elizabeth I granted him exclusive
rights for 21 years to produce 'Venetian' glass in England. Imports from Italy were
forbidden, a ban that lasted until 1623 and which made Verzelini unpopular with
London's tradesman.
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pharos/collection_pages/northern_pages/C.4-1967/FRM_TXT_SE-C.4-1967.html
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/33988/hobbies/the_story_of_glass_in_england.html
Jacopo Verzelini, 1522 - 1606 Glass goblet, 1578
Jacopo Verzelini was this glassmaker, who came to England in 1575 and brought great
advances to English glassmaking. Queen Elizabeth granted Verzelini a patent for the Murano
process of glassmaking. These techniques were then taken to the Americas by colonists, with the
first American glass being produced in Jamestown, Virginia in 1608.
http://www.zimbio.com/Recycling+Glass/articles/2/A+History+of+Glass

35
SOLO 1585
Optics History
Giovanni Battista Benedetti (1530 – 1590), an Italian mathematician, writes
“Diversarum Speculationum Mathematicarum”, and describes the use of
concave mirrors and convex lenses to correct images
He made some small contributions to music and to optics. His work on the
later topic included work on a camera obscura
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Benedetti.html

Lens Making in
The Low Countries
Spectacle lens makers in Middelburg late C16th
Spectacles - The
Treviso Fresco by
Tommaso Barisino
da Modena (1326-
1379) painted 1352
Spectacle Peddler

37
SOLO Microscope
Hans Jensen or his son Zacharias Dutch lensmakers from Middleburg
are credited for the invention of microscope about 1595.
http://microscopy.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/janssen.html
1595
Luckily, there was one true Jansen microscope which survived
long enough to be studied. As was customary at the time, the
Jansens made several versions of their new invention to give to
royalty. We know that they sent one of their microscopes to Prince
Maurice of Orange, and one to Archduke Albert of Austria. While
neither of these instruments survived to modern times, the later of
them was preserved until the early 1600's, when a Dutch diplomat
and childhood friend of Zacharias Jansen named Cornelius
Drebbel, examined it and recorded his observations.
The diagram shows the optics of the Jansen-style
microscopes. Note that it contains a 2 lenses, and
diaphragms between the tubes to cut down on glare from
the crude lenses. The microscope at the Middleburg
museum was said to have a magnification of 3X when
fully closed, and 9X when fully extended
http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch773/zimmerman/c2.html
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/museum/janssen.html

38
Optics HistorySOLO
1604 Johannes Kepler, “Ad Vitellion Paralipomena, quibus
astronomiae pars optica traditur ” (A Supplement to
Witelo, on the optical part of astronomy ). Kepler assumed that the light
propagates spherically from point-sources. Like Alhacen and Witelo he
assumed that the transmission light and color can be resolved in
individual rays within the sphere of propagation. He explained the
formation of the image on the retina by the lens in a eye and correctly
described the causes of long-sightedness and short-sightedness.
http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1482/480202.pdf#search='Kepler%20%26%20optics'
1604
Kepler did some work on optics, and came up with the first correct
mathematical theory of the camera obscura and the first correct
explanation of the working of the human eye, with an upside-down
picture formed on the retina.
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Kepler.html

39
SOLO Telescope
On 2 October 1608 Hans Lippershey requested from
States-General of Holland for a patent for a telescope.
He failed to receive a patent but was handsomely rewarded by
the Dutch overnment for copies of his design. A description of
Lippershey's instrument quickly reached Galileo Galilei, who
created a working design in 1609, with which he made the
observations found in his Sidereus Nuncius of 1610. Galileo's
telescope could see 30-times farther than the naked eye, while
the "Dutch perspective glass" that Lippershey invented could
only see 3-times farther than the naked eye. But Hans made a
huge contribution to science by inspiring others like Galileo.
The practical invention of the telescope was done in Netherland
in 1608 and disputed by Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Jensen
spectacle makers from Middleburg and James Metius of Alkmaar.
http://microscopy.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/lippershey.html
1608
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Lippershey
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/lippershey.html

40
SOLO
Telescope
In 1609 Galileo heard of Lippershey work and designed his own telescope.
Galileo’s telescope had planar-convex objective (D=5.6 cm, f = 1.7 m,
R = 93.5 cm) and a planar-concave eyepiece.
1609

41
SOLO
Telescope
The “Sidereus Nuncius” is the work in which Galileo
announced the discovery of Jupiter's moons. Using drawings and
illustrations, he analyzed the new celestial phenomena observed
with the telescope in Padua in early 1610. The work initiated a
process that would lead, in a few decades, to the acceptance of the
Copernican system despite opposition from ecclesiastical
authorities. The work's publication and its dedication to the
Medici of Jupiter's moons (which Galileo named the "Medicean
Stars") opened the path for the return of Galileo to Tuscany,
Cosimo II having appointed him Granducal Mathematician and
Philosopher. A few months after the “Sidereus Nuncius”
appeared, the Pisan scientist observed "three-bodied Saturn,"
sunspots, and the phases of Venus, which provided further
evidence against the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic system .
1610
http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/museum/esim.asp?c=404002

42
SOLO
Camera Obscura 1610
CHRISTOPHER SCHEINER (1575 - 1650)
This German Jesuit and pupil of Kircher designed and built what he called his "Pantograph" (also
see 1611-1612) or, device for making optical copies. He illustrated this instrument in his 'Rosa Ursina
Sive Sol' (Scheiner, C., Bracciano, Italy, 1630, Book II, ch.8, p107, and plate).
Christopher Scheiner's 'Pantograph' (above right ).
The telescopic lens mounted in the front of the box
(camera), can be seen extending out the window. It is
believed the device was 22 metres long. The image of
the sun, and sunspots were projected on the rear
screen within the framework which was covered with
material. Christopher Scheiner wrote his 'Rosa
Ursina Sive Sol' in 1630. He illustrated this small
portable camera obscura in book 2, chapter 8, and
page 107 showing clearly a telescope in the aperture.
Scheiner was a student of Athananius Kircher. In
1619 Scheiner shows an illustration highlighting the
use of a second lens to invert the image in his
'Oculus' .
The next year he would observe sunspots. It
is difficult to see in the image to the right, but
the viewer is on the far side of the camera
and has his head inserted in the device, and
completing the drawing.
Scheiner's sunspots seen through the heliograph were provided for
us in his 'Rosa Ursina Sive Sol' by way of drawings (above). Clearly
the camera obscura has played a vital role in other sciences. (Taken
from William R. Shea, Scheiner, Christoph," Dictionary of
Scientific Biography; idem, "Scheiner, and the Interpretation of
Sunspots," Isis, 61 (1970):498-519).

43
Optics HistorySOLO
http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1482/480202.pdf#search='Kepler%20%26%20optics'
1611 Johannes Kepler, “Dioptrics”
Following Galileo’s using the telescope Kepler continued the study of
light. Kepler presented the principles of convergent and divergent lens.
He suggested that a telescope can be built using a converging objective
and a converging eye lens and described a combination of lenses that
would later be known as telephoto lens.
1611
1618 Christopher Scheiner built a telescope of the type suggested by Kepler.

44
SOLO
Color Theory
Finland - The oldest known color system is credited to astronomer, priest and Neoplatonist
Aron Sigfrid Forsius (1569-1637). In his color circle , between the colors Black and
White, Red has been placed on the one side since the classical antiquity, and Blue on the other;
Yellow then comes between White and Red, pale Yellow between White and Yellow, Orange
between Yellow and Red.
http://www.coloryourcarpet.com/History/ColorHistory.html
The oldest colour system known today that's worth its name originates from the Finnish born
astronomer, priest and Neoplatonist Aron Sigfrid Forsius (died 1637), sometimes also known as
Siegfried Aronsen. Forsius became Professor of Astronomy in Uppsala (Sweden) in 1603, later
moving as a preacher to Stockholm and beyond. He was removed from office in 1619, after being
accused of making astrological prophesies.
Eight years previously, a manuscript had appeared in which Forsius expounded his thoughts about
colours, concluding that they could be brought into a spacial order. This 1611 text lay undiscovered in
the Royal Library in Stockholm until this century, to eventually be presented before the first congress
of the "International Colour Association" in 1969. It was in chapter VII — which was devoted to
sight — of this work on physics that Forsius introduced his colour diagrams. He first of all discusses
the five human senses, explains (for us in rather complicated and incomprehensible terms) how
colours are seen, and then arrives at his colour diagrams, on the basis of which he attempts to provide
a three-dimensional picture. Forsius states:
"Amongst the colours there are two primary colours, white and black, in which all others have their
origin." Forsius is here in agreement with Leonardo da Vinci who, more than three hundred years
earlier, had included black and white amongst the colours, seeing them next to yellow, red, blue and
green as primary colours. Forsius then continues:
http://www.colorsystem.com/projekte/engl/03fore.htm
1611
Aron Sigfrid Forsius
)1569-1637.(

45
Optics HistorySOLO
1612
In this work, published in 1612, Neri discusses how to
produce "ordinary glass", Venetian "cristallo" glass and
coloured glass, but not how to make mirrors. Concave
mirrors in particular were made of metal throughout the
17th century.
Antonio Neri (1576 – 1614]
) was a Florentine priest
who published L’Arte Vetraria or The Art of Glass in
1612.
Neri's little book created a revolution—the elements
required for high level glassmaking became widely
known, and the industry spread rapidly throughout
Europe, where most previous glass manufacturing
undertakings had failed to approach to the quality of
Venetian glasses

46
Optics HistorySOLO
1613
François d'Aguilon (also d'Aguillon or Aguilonius) (1546 - 1617) was a Belgian
mathematician and physicist. .... His book, “Opticorum Libri Sex philosophis juxta
ac mathematicis utiles” (Six Books of Optics, useful for philosophers and
mathematicians alike), published in Antwerp in 1613, was illustrated by famous
painter Peter Paul Rubens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_d'Aguilon
Anguilonius’ system uses three basic colours, and can thus be seen
as the forerunner of other systems which function in a similar way.
In the pure combination of colors, he dispenses with the fourth,
green, which had already caused difficulties for Leonardo da Vinci,
but not without granting it a special position. In the same way as red
(above), green is placed in the middle (although beneath). Both
colours therefore stand opposite one another, and rightly so, since
they do this in a complementary way, as Aguilonius quietly implies
when he allocates a tip (a point) to red, whilst green is allowed to
extend outwards as a bow. Thus, a restrained point of colour stands
opposite the continuous colored line, to be combined using the
stepped diagram.
http://www.colorsystem.com/projekte/engl/04ague.htm
François d‘Aguilon's color mixing theory (1613)
http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color6.html
Peter Paul Rubens frontispiece of Aguilon's book
François d'Aguilon
1567-1617

47
Optics HistorySOLO
1616
Nicholas Zucchi designed one of, if not the, earliest reflecting telescope in 1616.
Though the practicality of the primitive instrument was poor (his design did not
provide a way to keep the head of the user from intercepting most of the rays
which are needed to form the focal image), by many accounts he was able to use
his reflecting telescope to discover the belts of Jupiter in 1630 and examine the
spots on the planet Mars ten years later. Also, at the urging of the Jesuit scientist
Paul Guldin, Zucchi bestowed a reflecting telescope of his design to Kepler, who
received it with such satisfaction that the dedication of his final book was to
Guldin.
… Zucchi described his reflecting telescope and his invention of it in the treatise
Optica philosophia experimentalis et ratione a fundamentis constituta, which was
published in the 1650s. The landmark work reportedly influenced James Gregory
and Sir Isaac Newton, both of whom built improved reflecting telescopes in the
1660s
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/zucchi.html
The experiments of 1616 by Nicolas Zucchi or latinized Nicholaus Zucchius (1586-1670), where
performed only about a decade after the first refracting telescope had been constructed in the
Netherlands. Zucchius used a single concave mirror, tilted to avoid massive obstruction by the observer,
and an eyepiece as telescope. His short instruments suffered heavily from astigmatism and produced
only bad images
http://www.seds.org/~spider/scopes/schiefh.html

48
Optics HistorySOLO
1619
In this year Scheiner describes in his book 'Oculus' (Scheiner, 1619) the camera
obscura utilizing a human figure as an actor and showing the inverted image.
Scheiner, in this same manuscript shows an illustration highlighting the use of a
second lens to invert the image.
CHRISTOPHER SCHEINER (1575 - 1650)
Illustration (left) from Scheiner's 'Oculus' of 1619.
Here he gives a clear demonstration of a room-type
camera obscura in the form of a cave or earthen hut.
It clearly shows the use of a second lens in order to
erect the image.

49
Optics HistorySOLO
1619
Cornelis Drebbel (1572 – 1633)
Cornelis Drebbel after
Hendrick Goltzius
Cornelis Drebbel invented the microscope with two sets of
convex lenses. He made compound microscopes as early as
1619. He also made telescopes, and he developed a machine for
grinding lenses. He constructed a camera obscura with a lens in
the aperture, and he had some sort of magic lantern that
projected images
http://www.drebbel.utwente.nl/main_en/Information/History/History.htm
Cornelis Drebbel invented (or is said to have invented) the microscope with two sets of
convex lenses. He made compound microscopes as early as 1619. He also made
telescopes, and he developed a machine for grinding lenses. He constructed a camera
obscura with a lens in the aperture, and he had some sort of magic lantern that
projected images. http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/drebbel.html
Drebbel became famous for his 1619 invention of a microscope with two convex
lenses. It was the first microscope with two optical lenses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Drebbel
Besides designing and building a workable submarine, this Dutch glass maker, engraver
and engineer spoke of the camera obscura and had an important hand in the
development of the magic lantern, perhaps alongside Kircher. Drebbel also commented
on the relationship between art and the camera image.

50
Reflection & RefractionSOLO
History of Reflection & Refraction
Willebrord van
Roijen Snell
1580-1626
Professor at Leyden, experimentally discovered
the law of refraction in 1621
1
2
sin
sin
n
n
t
i
=
θ
θ
1621
In 1621, or shortly thereafter, Snell discovered the law of refraction
that today bears his name. When light rays pass obliquely from a
rarer to denser medium (e.g. air to water) they are bent toward the
vertical. Scientists from Ptolemy (fl. second century A.D.) to
Johannes Kepler (1572-1630) had searched in vain for a law to
explain this phenomenon. Ptolemy thought the angles of the incident
and refracted light rays maintained a constant relationship, while
Kepler had produced nothing more than approximate empirical
relations. Snell's years of research revealed that it was the ratio of
the sines of the angles of the incident and refracted rays to the
normal that remains constant.
Though Snell never published his findings, the manuscript
containing the discovery was examined by Isaacus Vossius (1618-
1669) and Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), who commented upon it
in their own works. However, priority of publication goes to René
Descartes (1596-1650), who presented the law without proof in his
Dioptrique (1637). Huygens and others accused Descartes of
plagiarism. Though Descartes's many visits to Leiden during Snell's
life make the charge plausible, there seems to be no evidence to
support it.
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/willebrord-snell-scit-031234/

51
OpticsSOLO 1636
DANIEL SCHWENTER (1585 - 1636)
This professor of mathematics and oriental languages at Altdorf constructed what was
called a scioptric ball (today's fish-eye lens). Movement of this lens-ball in the aperture
of the camera allowed artists to draw or paint panoramic views. Schwenter describes
this lens in his 'Deliciae Physio Mathematicae' (Schwenter, Daniel, Nurnberg,
Germany, 1651, p255). Zahn (Oculus Artificialis, Zahn, Johann, Wurzburg, 1685-6)
and Schott (Magia Universalis Naturae Et Artis, "The Wonders of Universal Nature
and Art", Schott, Kaspar, Wurzburg, 1657, p76) both speak of the lens; Zahn as
"scioptric" and Schott as "ox-eye".
Schwenter's illustration (right) of his scioptric ball, or
as he called it, an "ox-eye lens". This lens provided the
same effect as today's fish-eye lens (-28mm). It was
constructed with two lenses mounted at opposite ends of
a circular ball or sphere, made out of wood. It was
secured enough to hold the lenses in place, and would
also allow movement within, thereby providing a
panoramic view of the image being viewed such as a
landscape by simply swiveling the ball. This illustration
comes from Schwenter's 'Deliciae Physio Mathematicae',
published in 1636.
http://www.precinemahistory.net/1600.htm#SCHEINER

52
TelescopeSOLO 1636
Marin Mersenne
1588 - 1648
Marin Mersenne proposed several forms of Reflecting Telescopes
in “L’Harmonie Universelle” in 1636.
The Early Reflecting Telescopes
The invention of the compound reflecting telescope comprising of two curved mirrors,
in both the Gregorian and Cassegrain forms.
Mersenne was first to propose the afocal reflecting telescope with a parallel beam
entering and leaving the mirror system, i.e. a beam compressor.
He understood Cartesian theory and knew that the correction of spherical
aberration for each mirror required confocal paraboloids.

53
SOLO
René Descartes
1596-1650
René Descartes was the first to publish the law of refraction in
terms of sinuses in “La Dioptrique” in 1637.
Descartes assumed that the component of
velocity of light parallel to the interface was
unaffected, obtaining
ti vv θθ sinsin 21 =
from which
1
2
sin
sin
v
v
t
i
=
θ
θ
correct
1
2
sin
sin
n
n
t
i
=
θ
θ
Descartes deduced
wrong
http://www.astro.virginia.educlassmajewskiastr511lectureshumaneye
1637
Reflection & Refraction

54
Telescope
SOLO
1641
JOHANNES HEVELIUS
Established the largest observatory in Europe spanning the rooftops of
three adjoining buildings in Danzing (Gdansk).
Johannes Hevelius
(Jan Hewelke)
(Jan Heweliusz)
1602 - 1680
In 1641 he built an observatory on the roofs of his
three connected houses, equipping it with splendid
instruments, including ultimately a tubeless telescope of
45 m (150 ft.) focal length, constructed by himself.
In 1664 he was elected as a member of the Royal Society
of London.

55
Camera ObscuraSOLO
1646
ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602 - 1680)
The most mentioned name in reference to the magic
lantern, Kircher describes it in his 'Ars Magna Lucis Et
Umbra' (The Great Art of Light and Shadow, Kircher, A.,
1st ed. vol.10, Rome, Italy, 1646) and illustrates a camera
obscura of almost room size (plate 28 of vol.10, sec. 2). In
the last volume he explains the magic lantern and it's use.
Kircher describes a similar construction of a camera to
that of Wotton's description (which was of Kepler's).
Kircher also details in the book a revolving wheel of
painted pictures, something which wasn't seen again until
the 19th century. 'Ars Magna' (1st ed) did not include any
illustration of the magic lantern however it did include a
fine illustration of the camera obscura.
Camera Obscura (right) from Athanasius Kircher's Ars Magna Lucis
Et Umbra (The Great Art of Light and Shadow) 1646. Originally,
camera obscuras were the size of rooms and thus take their name
from the latin 'dark room'. (Ars Magna, 1st ed. vol.10, plate 28 of
vol.10, sec. 2, 1646)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher

56
Optics HistorySOLO
1647
Bonaventura Francesco
Cavalieri
1598 - 1647
Cavalieri developed a general rule for the focal
length of lenses and described a reflecting
telescope.
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Cavalieri.html
http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/cavalieri.html
Bonaventura Cavalieri (Italy) describes the relationship between the radius of
curvature for the surface of a thin lens and its focal length.

57
Optics HistorySOLO
1652
JEAN-FRANCOIS NICERON (1613 - 1646)
In his 'La Perspective Curieuse' (Posthumously,
Niceron, J., Paris, France, 1652) Niceron gives a full
description of the camera obscura and it's use.
Previous publications by Niceron (1638 and 1646),
who wrote on perspective, drawings, lenses and
mirrors, fail to mention the camera. Niceron told of
charlatans who used the image making process to
cheat patrons out of their purses.
From Niceron's 'La Perspective Curieuse' of 1652
(right). Niceron wanted to show that image size had to
do with the distance the subject was from the lens. This
illustration shows a room camera with a hung drape or
sheet, and the image in it's natural state (inverted). The
top half of the frame shows a subject closer to the hole
and a corresponding image. The bottom half shows the
object farther away and therefore proving a smaller
image.

58
SOLO Speed of Light
Isaac Beeckman (1588-1637) proposed in 1629 an experiment in which one would
observe the flash of a cannon reflecting off a mirror about one mail away.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) proposed in 1638 an experiment to measure the speed of
light by observing the delay between uncovering a lantern and its perception some
distance away. This experiment was carried out by the Accademia del Cimento of
Florence in 1667, with the lanterns separated about one mile. No delay was observed.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) explained the negative results as Galileo had: by pointing
out that such observations did not establish the infinite speed of light, but only that the
speed must be very great.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people
Robert Hooke
(1635-1703)

59
SOLO OPTICS
Eyepieces
Huyghenian eyepiece uses a large field lens, and a small
eye lens. In this design, the field lens, instead of lying just past the
focus of the telescope, is placed before it, preventing a graticule
from being used. Christiaan Huygens
1629-1695
In 1654, Christiaan Huygens invented an eyepiece design using 2 plano-convex
lenses with the curved sides toward the telescope objective. This design is an
improvement over the Galilean and Keplerian designs and is still used today as
original equipment in some department store telescopes. This design features a
narrow field of view and short eye relief.
http://www.quadibloc.com/science/opt04.htm
http://casonline.org/focalpoint/0698.html
1654

60
SOLO Telescope
Petro Borello, published in Hague
“De Vero Telescopii Inventore”
First historical account of the
telescope and telescope makers.
1655

61
SOLO Foundation of Geometrical Optics
Fermat’s Principle (1657)
The Principle of Fermat (principle of the shortest optical path) asserts that the optical
length
of an actual ray between any two points is shorter than the optical ray of any other
curve that joints these two points and which is in a certai neighborhood of it.
An other formulation of the Fermat’s Principle requires only Stationarity (instead of
minimal length).
∫
2
1
P
P
dsn
An other form of the Fermat’s Principle is:
Princple of Least Time
The path following by a ray in going from one point in
space to another is the path that makes the time of transit of
the associated wave stationary (usually a minimum).
The idea that the light travels in the shortest path was first put
forward by Hero of Alexandria in his work “Catoptrics”,
cc 100B.C.-150 A.C. Hero showed by a geometrical method
that the actual path taken by a ray of light reflected from plane
mirror is shorter than any other reflected path that might be
drawn between the source and point of observation.
1657

62
SOLO Microscope
Marcello Malpighi (1635-1703) one of the first microscopists,
considered father of embryology, observed capillarity.
1660
Malpighi used the microscope for studies on skin, kidney, and
for the first interspecies comparison of the liver. He greatly
extended the science of embriology. The use of microscopes
enabled him to describe the development of the chick in its egg,
and discovered that insects (particularly, the silk worm) do not
use lungs to breathe, but small holes in their skin called
tracheae. Later he falsely concluded that plants had similar
tubules. However, he observed that when a ringlike portion of
bark was removed on a trunk a swelling of the tissues would
occur above the ring. He correctly interpreted this as growth
stimulated by food coming down from the leaves, and becoming
dammed up above the ring. He was the first to see capillaries
and discovered the link between arteries and veins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Malpighi

63
SOLO
James Gregory (1638 – 1675) a Scottish mathematician and
astronomer professor at the University of St. Andrews and the
University of Edinburgh discovered the diffraction grating by
passing sunlight through a bird feather and observing the
diffraction produced.
Diffraction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gregory_%28astronomer_and_mathematician%29
http://microscopy.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/gregory.html
James Gregory invented in 1661 the reflected telescope.
His telescope uses a secondary concave mirror to collect
the reflection from a primary parabolic mirror and refocus
the image back trough a small hole in the primary mirror
to an eyepiece. Gregory didn’t built his telescope.
1661

64
SOLO Interference
Robert Boyle (1627-1691) first observed interference rings,
Now known as Newton’s rings.
1663
http://thespectroscopynet.com/educational/Newton.htm
Robert Boyle
1627-1691
Boyle describes a "portable darkened room" in his 'Of The Systematicall And
Cosmical Qualities Of Things" (Boyle, R., Oxford, England, 1669). This was a
portable box camera which he constructed, and then described. He also talks of
using oiled paper as a base and having the viewer look through a hole to see the
image. He claims this camera obscura of his own, was shown years earlier (no trace
of this has been found in all of Boyle's known works).
http://www.precinemahistory.net/1650.htmhttp://www.precinemahistory.net/1650.htm

65
SOLO Telescope 1664
Robert Hooke (England) is the first to build a
Gregorian reflecting telescope. He uses it to
discover a new star in the constellation Orion and
make observations of Jupiter and Mars.
Robert Hooke
(1635-1703)
http://www.newuniverse.co.uk/hooke.html
Early attempts to build a Gregorian telescope
failed, and it wasn't until ten years later, aided by
the interest of experimental scientist Robert
Hooke, that a working instrument was actually
constructed. Gregory's design pre-dates the
familiar form of reflector which Sir Isaac Newton
first designed and made around 1670.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_telescope

66
SOLO Diffraction
The Grimaldi’s description of diffraction was published in
1665 , two years after his death: “Physico-Mathesis de lumine,
coloribus et iride”
Francesco M. Grimaldi, S.J. (1613 – 1663) professor of mathematics and physics at the
Jesuit college in Bolognia discovered the diffraction of light and gave it the name
diffraction, which means “breaking up”.
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/grimaldi.htm
“When the light is incident on a smooth white surface it will
show an illuminated base IK notable greater than the rays
would make which are transmitted in straight lines through
the two holes. This is proved as often as the experiment is
trayed by observing how great the base IK is in fact and
deducing by calculation how great the base NO ought to be
which is formed by the direct rays. Furter it should not be
omitted that the illuminated base IK appears in the middle
suffused with pure light, and either extremity its light is
colored.”
Single Slit
Diffraction
Double Slit
Diffraction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Maria_Grimaldi
1665
http://www.coelum.com/calanca/grimaldi_de_lumine.htm

67
SOLO Microscope
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) work in microscopy is described in “Micrographia” published
in 1665. Contains investigations of the colours of thin plates of mica, a theory of light as
a transverse vibration motion (in 1672).
1665
Robert Hooke
(1635-1703)
Robert Hooke reports in
“Micrographia” (Small Drawings), the
discovery of the rings of light formed by
a layer of air between two glass plates,
first observed by Robert Boyle. In the
same work he gives the matching-wave-
front derivation of reflection and
refraction. The waves travel through
aether.
Robert Hooke also assumed that
the white light is a simple
disturbance and colors are
complex distortion of the white
light. This theory was refuted later
by Newton.
Robert Hooke’s compound
microscope: on the left
the illumination device
(an oil lamp), on
the right the microscope.flea

68
SOLO
Newton experiment white light and a dispersion prism
A beam of white light passing through a prism
is decomposed in a spectrum of colors.
http://phyun5.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node58.html
Using a second prism the decomposed
spectrum is composed obtaining the white
light.
If only a single color is allow to reach
the second prism, using a screen, only
this color will be at the output of the
prism.
1666
Isaac Newton
1542 - 1727
Optics History

69
SOLO
Telescope
Using Gregory ideas Newton built a reflecting telescope in 1668.
http://microscopy.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/1600-1699.html
1668
Isaac Newton
1542 - 1727

70
Polarization
Erasmus Bartholinus, doctor of medicine and professor of
mathematics at the University of Copenhagen, showed in 1669 that
crystals of “Iceland spar” (which we now call calcite, CaCO3)
produced two refracted rays from a single incident beam. One ray,
the “ordinary ray”, followed Snell’s law, while the other, the
“extraordinary ray”, was not always even in the plan of incidence.
SOLO
Erasmus Bartholinus
1625-1698
http://www.polarization.com/history/history.html
1669

71
SOLO Telescope
Paris Observatory
1671
Giovanni Domenico Cassini
(1625 - 1712)
Its foundation lies in the ambitions
of Jean-Baptiste Colbert promoted
its construction starting in 1667 its
being completed in 1671. The
architect was probably Claude
Perrault. Optical instruments were
supplied by Giuseppe Campani.
The buildings were extended in
1730, 1810, 1834, 1850, and 1951.
Cassini was an astronomer at the Panzano Observatory, from 1648 to
1669. He was a professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna
and became, in 1671, director of the Paris Observatory, until his death
in 1712, when it was followed by his son Jacques Cassini (1677 -1756)
. He thoroughly adopted his new country, to the extent that he became
interchangeably known as Jean-Dominique Cassini.
Along with Robert Hooke, Cassini is given credit for the discovery of the
Great Red Spot on Jupiter (ca. 1665). Cassini was the first to observe four
of Saturn's moons, which he called Sidera Lodoicea; he also discovered
the Cassini Division (1675). Around 1690, Cassini was the first to observe
differential rotation within Jupiter's atmosphere.

72
SOLO
1671Camera Obscura
ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602 - 1680)
Kircher published his second, and expanded edition of 'Ars
Magna' and gives two illustrations of his lantern. On pages 768
and 769 Kircher names Walgensten as having a fine lantern, but
still claims the magic lantern as his own. He also described a
revolving disk similar to the rotating wheel of his 1646 edition. He
referred to this as a 'Smicroscopin'. The story of Christ's death,
burial and resurrection are depicted in eight separate slides, or
scenes. His illustration of the magic lantern in this edition
(Amsterdam) clearly show the direction of his thinking, when we
see the possibility of movement using successive slides.
Kircher's revised Ars Magna of 1671 provides a
wonderful cut-out illustration (above right) of his
magic lantern. The drawing clearly shows the lens,
mirror, light source (lamp), slides and image on the
wall. Kircher claimed he was the inventor. The
slides are offered in the inverted position in order to
provide an upright presentation. Notice the
reflecting mirror for greater illumination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher

73
SOLO
http://physics.nad.ru/Physics/English/index.htm
Prisms
Color λ0 (nm) υ [THz]
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Violet
780 - 622
622 - 597
597 - 577
577 - 492
492 - 455
455 - 390
384 – 482
482 – 503
503 – 520
520 – 610
610 – 659
659 - 769
1 nm = 10-9
m, 1 THz = 1012
Hz
( )[ ]{ } αθαθλαθδ −−−+= −
1
2/1
1
221
1
sincossinsinsin iii
n
In 1672 Newton wrote “A New Theory about Light and Colors” in which he said that
the white light consisted of a mixture of various colors and the diffraction was color
dependent.
1672Optics History
Run This

74
SOLO Telescope
Laurent Cassegrain (1629 - 1693) designed a reflecting telescope in 1672, similar to the
Gregorian, but having a secondary hyperbolic mirror.
1672

75
TelescopeSOLO
1673
JOHANNES HEVELIUS
Johannes Hevelius
(Jan Hewelke)
(Jan Heweliusz)
1602 - 1680
Hevelius built a 150-foot
refracting telescope on
the shore of the Baltic
Sea in 1673.
The 150-foot telescope was too long to be encased in an expensive and heavy iron tube, and a paper
tube would have fallen apart. So Hevelius arranged the lenses in a wooden trough, suspended the
whole thing from a 90-foot pole, and used ropes, pulleys, and a team of workmen to operate it from
the ground.
Hevelius used the new understanding of how lenses worked to improve his refracting telescopes.
The flatter the telescope’s primary lens, the longer it took the light rays to meet and focus. This
produced a clearer image but meant that the two lenses in a telescope had to be placed further
apart.

76
SOLO
Glass History 1674
The development of lead crystal has been attributed to the English glassmaker George Ravenscroft (1618-
1681), who patented his new glass in 1674. He had been commissioned to find a substitute for the Venetian
crystal produced in Murano and based on pure quartz sand and potash. By using higher proportions of lead
oxide instead of potash, he succeeded in producing a brilliant glass with a high refractive index which was very
well suited for deep cutting and engraving.
George Ravenscroft (1618-1681)
Ravenscroft’s glass works were set up in two locations, the primary facility being established in Savoy,
London in 1673 and a secondary, temporary facility set up between 1674 and 1675 in Henley-on-Thames
]]
.
Early Ravenscroft glass (1674-1676) developed crizzling (gradual, unstoppable deterioration
characterized by numerous cracks, making the glass look cloudy) quickly (within 1-2 years) because of
some fault in the type or components of the glass-making mixture; excessive alkaline salts or insufficient
amounts of lime, which acts as a stabilizer, have been suggested as possible causes. No early pieces are
known to exist
today.
The crizzling resulted in damage to the reputation of the company, and Ravenscroft and his team worked
to fix the problem[2]
. Ravenscroft announced in 1676 that the crizzling problem had been resolved and that
the new, improved glass vessels would bear a raven’s head seal to distinguish them from earlier, faulty
pieces[4]
. A small number of glass vessels bearing the raven’s head seal exist today, some of which have
crizzled and
some of which have not[3]
.
More pieces created by Ravenscroft may exist, but in the absence of the raven’s head seal, which he
stopped using in about 1677[5]
, or any descriptions or drawings of his designs it is difficult to positively
attribute particular pieces to him[4]
. Some pieces thought to strongly resemble Ravenscroft’s work bear an
“S” seal; some have suggested that the “S” stands for “Savoy,” Ravenscroft’s main production facility[5]
,

SOLO
Camera Obscura 1674
CLAUDE FRANCOIS MILLIET DE CHALES (1621 - 1678)
Well versed in many sciences, this French mathematician, and professor of
humanities and hydrography at the University of Marseilles, actually said he did
not invent the magic lantern. He wrote two editions of his monumental 'Cursus Seu
Mundus Mathematicus' (De Chales, F., M., 1st ed. 1674, 2nd ed. 1690, Paris,
France) where he improved on the already well known lantern by tackling focus,
focal point, better illumination and a sharper image. He also illustrates (1st ed.
1674, vol.ii, p666) the lantern of Walgensten in this book. De Chales also suggested
the idea of introducing glass slides from the side, and showing them in succession.
The 'motion' of the magic lantern comes to life in this slide of German origin. Four
simple pictures from left to right tell the story of the painter and the prankster. De
Chales introduced the idea of successive glass slides on a horizontal plain in 1674.
See also Zahn 1685. (Courtesy The International Arts, Antiques and Collectibles
Forum)

78
SOLO
Microscope
Antoine van Leeuwenhoek 1675
1675
Leeuwenhoek is known to have made over 500
"microscopes," of which fewer than ten have survived
to the present day. In basic design, probably all of
Leeuwenhoek's instruments -- certainly all the ones
that are known -- were simply powerful magnifying
glasses, not compound microscopes of the type used
today. A drawing of one of Leeuwenhoek's
"microscopes" is shown at the left. Compared to
modern microscopes, it is an extremely simple device,
using only one lens, mounted in a tiny hole in the brass
plate that makes up the body of the instrument. The
specimen was mounted on the sharp point that sticks
up in front of the lens, and its position and focus could
be adjusted by turning the two screws. The entire
instrument was only 3-4 inches long, and had to be
held up close to the eye; it required good lighting and
great patience to use.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html

79
SOLO Telescope
The Greenwich Royal Observatory
1675
The Greenwich Royal Observatory was designed and
built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1675.
The Octagon Room
Sir Christopher Wren
1632 - 1723
In 1661, Wren was elected Savilian Professor of Astronomy at
Oxford, and in 1669 he was appointed Surveyor of Works to
Charles II. From 1661 until 1668 Wren's life was based in
Oxford, although the Royal Society meant that he had to make
occasional trips to London.
His scientific works ranged from astronomy, optics, the problem of finding longitude at sea, cosmology, mechanics,
microscopy, surveying, medicine and meteorology. He observed, measured, dissected, built models, and employed,
invented and improved a variety of instruments. It was also around these times that his attention turned to architecture.

80
SOLO
Röemer’s Method
In 1676 Röemer measured the speed of light using the times of the eclipses of the
Satellites of the planet Jupiter.
Speed of Light
Röemer studied at Copenhagen under Erasmus Bartholinus who
discovered the double refraction of light passing to a crystal of
Iceland Spar. He went to Paris as an astronomer of the Académie
Royale des Sciences.
Röemer measured the time of the eclipse of the Jupiter innermost
moon (that has the orbit in the same plan as Jupiter orbit around the
sun). He found that the interval T, between the successive eclipses
of the satellite by Jupiter, increased as the Earth – Jupiter distance
increases and vice versa. He attribute this to the finite speed of light.
Röemer measurements to travel a distance of radius of
Earth was 11 min (the correct number is 8 min 18 s).
Röemer calculated the speed f light to be 137.000 miles/s
or 220,000 km/s which is 25% lower than the real value.
1676

81
SOLO
Microscope 1677
The first binocular microscope was invented by the Capuchin
monk . Because his instrument consisted of two inverting
systems, it produced a pseudoscopic impression of depth by
accident, although not recognized by microscopists of the
time.
CHERUBIN D'ORLEANS (1613 - 1697)
The instrument subsequently fell into complete neglect for nearly two centuries. It was revived in
1852 by Charles Wheatstone, who published his ideas in his second great paper "On Binocular
Vision," in the Philosophical Transactions for 1852. Wheatstone's paper stimulated the
investigation of binocular vision and many variations of pseudoscopes were created, chief types
being the mirror or the prismatic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscope
A Capuchin father and distinguished physicist, Chérubin d'Orléans (real name
François Lasséré) devoted himself to the study of optics and to vision-related problems,
which he discussed in La Dioptrique Oculaire and
La vision parfaite (Paris, 1671 and 1677 respectively).
He invented the first binocular telescope. He devised
and may also have built a special type of eyepiece that
replaced the lens with a short tube. Chérubin is also
credited with producing models of the eyeball for
studying the lens function of the eye.
http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/museum/esim.asp?c=300133 http://www.precinemahistory.net/1650.htm
An illustration (right) from the book 'La Dioptrique
Oculaire' of 1671 by Cherubin d'Orleans. D'Orlean's
version of a camera obscura showing the light rays and
their inversion at the aperture.

82
SOLO
Microscope 1677
CHERUBIN D'ORLEANS (1613 - 1697)
The instrument consists of four rectangular sections containing two small
telescopes: the eyepieces are at the larger end, the objectives at the smaller. All the
sections are made of wood; they are painted black on the inside, and on the outside,
the largest section is covered with black grained leather, the others are covered with
green leather with gold tooling and with the coat-of-arms of the Medici family in
the centre. On the edges is the image of a cherub, the symbolic signature of the
maker. The two inner tubes, in parchment, are now incomplete in some parts. The
composite eyepiece is formed of three lenses. This binocular telescope is described
for the first time in the work by the Capuchin friar Chérubin d'Orléans, La
dioptrique oculaire [Ocular dioptrics], published in 1671 in Paris. The presence of
the Medici coat-of-arms indicates that Chérubin himself made the instrument for
Cosimo III de' Medici, probably in the 1670s. This instrument can enlarge objects
15 times.
V.43 Binocular telescope c. 1675
Medici Collection
Chérubin d'Orléans
Wood, leather, grained leather
Length circa 1050 mm
http://www.imss.fi.it/news/cielimedicei/06/estrumento2.html

83
SOLO
Microscope 1678
Jan Swammerdam (1637 – 1680)
Dutch naturalist, considered the most accurate of classical
microscopists, who was the first to observe and describe red blood cells
(1658).
Swammerdam completed medical studies in 1667 but never practiced
medicine, devoting himself to microscopical investigations instead.
In March of 1678, Swammerdam included drawings of the
microscope illustrated here in a letter to his mentor that
described several experiments and observations. The single-lens
microscope bears a striking resemblance to instruments made
during this period by Johan Joosten van Musschenbroek in
Leiden. Effectively a very small magnifying glass, the
microscope is designed to be held in one hand while observing
specimens. In practice microscopes having this design are very
difficult to use because the specimen almost touches the lens,
while the observer has to place their eye close to the lens in
order to view the specimen.
http://microscope.fsu.edu/primer/museum/swammerdam1670.html
http://www.janswammerdam.net/portrait.html

84
Reflection & RefractionSOLO
Christiaan Huygens
1629-1695
In a communication to the Academie des Science
in 1678 reported his wave theory (published in
his “Traité de Lumière” in 1690). He considered
that light is transmitted through an all-pervading
aether that is made up of small elastic particles,
each of each can act as a secondary source of
wavelets. On this basis Huygens explained many
of the known properties of light, including the
double refraction in calcite.
1678
http://posner.library.cmu.edu/Posner/books/book.cgi?call=535.3_H98T_1690

85
TelescopeSOLO
Christiaan Huygens
1629-1695
1681
Christiaan Huygens invented the Aerial Refractor in 1681.
Aerial Refractor
123-foot telescope with 7.5 inch object glass
mounted in a short iron tube on a ball and
socket joint.
Lens carrier slid in a groove within a tall
pole.
Eyepiece supported by pair of wooden feet,
and attached by a wire.

OpticsSOLO
1683
Trade card for John Yarwell, St Paul’s Church Yard, London, 1683.
Trade card of English optical
instrument maker, John Yarwell of
St Paul's Churchyard, London dated
1683. The card is illustrated with a
wide selection of drawtube
telescopes, one of which is shown
being used by a seated gentleman.
Next to this telescope is a triangular
glass prism displayed lengthways
along with two compound
microscopes on the table. The
remaining instruments on Yarwell's
card are eye glasses in the form of
hand lenses and a pair of pince-nez
armless spectacles that are worn on
the nose.

87
SOLO Camera Obscura
1685
JOHANN ZAHN (1631 - 1707)
http://www.luikerwaal.com/newframe_uk.htm?/boeken_uk.htm
Zahn published in Wurzburg 'Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus Sive
Telescopium' (Zahn, J., Wurzburg, 1685-6). In this wondrous book, we find
many descriptions and illustrations of both the camera obscura and magic
lantern. Zahn used the lantern for anatomical lectures, illustrated a large
workshop camera obscura for solar observations using the telescope and
scioptric ball, demonstrated the use of mirrors and lenses to erect the image,
enlarge and focus it. Zahn also designed several portable camera obscuras
for drawing using the 45 degree mirror, and used side flaps to shield
unwanted light. Zahn's camera obscuras were the closest thing to what 19th
century cameras were. Zahn gave credit for the magic lantern to Kircher and
mentions Schott and De Chales in his references. Zahn also suggested the
presentation of images under water and proceeded to explain, and stressed
the importance of hiding the magic lantern out of sight of the audience. This
book also goes on to show how time (a clock) can be projected onto a larger
screen, and how wind direction can be seen by having a connection from the
lantern to a wind vane on the roof of the building. Zahn even foresaw the use
of the lantern to project the image on glass which allowed several to view at
one time, as opposed to the camera obscura which was limited largely to one
observer at a time [excepting the room camera] (as the kinetoscope surpassed
the mutoscope for the same reason).

88
SOLO Microscope
1686
Campani's Wooden Screw-Barrel Microscope
Joseph (Giuseppe) Campani ( 1635-1715 ), a well-known and popular Italian microscope and
telescope designer, built this screw-focusing compound microscope about 1686. This simple
microscope conforms to typical Italian design motifs of the period.
The Campani microscope features a dual screw-barrel focus that
allows for adjustment between the specimen and the objective and
also between the objective and eyepiece. The total body extension of
this microscope covers a large range with the fully extended
microscope being five inches tall and falling to three inches when the
objective and eyepiece are positioned as close to the sample as
possible. The specimen slide is secured between two plates located at
the base of the microscope. Illumination for the microscope could be
derived from either reflected ambient light or the microscope could be
inverted to use the sky or a candle as a transmitted light source. This
dual purpose illumination design allowed microscopists to examine
both transparent specimens and the surface of opaque objects, such
as wounds and scars (a major interest at the time).
He worked in close assistance with the other famous Italian optician, Eustachio Divini. Divini
and Campani competed in making better microscope and telescope lenses, and according to an
anonymous correspondent of the Parisian correspondent of the Philosophical Transactions, in
1665 Campani’s telescope lenses were found to be of superior quality.
Campani published a volume on microscopes in 1686, entitled Descriptio Novi Microscopii. Many
Campani microscopes have survived to our days. Nowadays, they can be found in the Museum
Boerhaave, Leiden, in the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, at the University of Bologna, in the
Landesmuseum Kassel, and in the Billings Collection.

89
SOLO Glass History
1688
Advances in Glass Making from France
In 1688, in France, a new process was developed for the production of plate glass,
principally for use in mirrors, whose optical qualities had, until then, left much to be
desired. The molten glass was poured onto a special table and rolled out flat. After cooling,
the plate glass was ground on large round tables by means of rotating cast iron discs and
increasingly fine abrasive sands, and then polished using felt disks. The result of this "plate
pouring" process was flat glass with good optical transmission qualities. When coated on
one side with a reflective, low melting metal, high-quality mirrors could be produced.
France also took steps to promote its own glass industry and attract glass experts from
Venice; not an easy move for Venetians keen on exporting their abilities and know-how,
given the history of discouragement of such behaviour (at one point, Venetian glass
craftsmen faced death threats if they disclosed glassmaking secrets or took their skills
abroad). The French court, for its part, placed heavy duties on glass imports and offered
Venetian glassmakers a number of incentives: French nationality after eight years and total
exemption from taxes, to name just two.
'Polished Plate' first produced in France in larger sizes by casting and hand
polishing. Polished plate is made by casting glass from a crucible into pan-shaped
moulds and then grinding and polishing the surface until it is smooth. This was
originally down by hand but later by machine
http://www.tangram.co.uk/TI-Glazing-Glass_Timeline.html

90
TelescopeSOLO
1690
Elisabeth Hevelius
Elisabeth Catherina Koopmann Hevelius (1647 -
1693) also called Elżbieta Heweliusz (in Polish)
was the second wife of Johannes Hevelius. Like her
husband, she was also an astronomer.
Elisabeth Koopmann (or Kaufmann, German:
merchant) was, like Hevelius and his first wife, a
member of a rich merchant family in the Hanseatic
League city of Danzig.
Her marriage to Hevelius in 1663 allowed her to
pursue her own interest in astronomy by helping
him manage his observatory in Danzig. Following
his death in 1687, she completed and published
Prodromus astronomiae (1690), their jointly
compiled catalogue of 1,564 stars and their
positions.
She is considered the first female astronomer, and
called "the mother of moon charts".
Johannes Hevelius and Elisabeth
making observations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Hevelius

91
SOLO
Huygens Principle
Christiaan Huygens
1629-1695
Every point on a primary wavefront serves the source of spherical
secondary wavelets such that the primary wavefront at some later
time is the envelope o these wavelets. Moreover, the wavelets
advance with a speed and frequency equal to that of the primary
wave at each point in space.
“We have still to consider, in studying the
spreading of these waves, that each particle of
matter in which a wave proceeds not only
communicates its motion to the next particle to it,
which is on the straight line drawn from the
luminous point, but it also necessarily gives a motion
to all the other which touch it and which oppose its
motion. The result is that around each particle
there arises a wave of which this particle is a
center.”
Huygens visualized the propagation of light in
terms of mechanical vibration of an elastic
medium (ether).
Diffraction 1690
Page from “Traité de Lumière”

92
SOLO
Reflection Laws Development Using Huygens Principle
Suppose a planar incident wave
AB is moving toward the boundary
AC between two media. The velocity
of light in the first media is v1.
The incident rays are reflected at
the boundary AB. At the time the
incident ray passing through B is
reaching the boundary at C, the
reflected ray at A will reach D and
the ray passing through F will be
reflected at G and reaches H.
According to Huygens Principle a reflected wavefront CHD, normal to the reflected
rays AD, GH is formed and CBGHFGAD =+=
ADCABC ∆=∆
DCABAC ri ∠=∠= θθ &From the geometry
DCABAC ∠=∠
ri θθ =
Run This

93
SOLO
Refraction Laws Development Using Huygens Principle
Suppose a planar incident wave
AB is moving toward the boundary
AC between two media. The velocity
of light in the first media is v1.
The incident rays are refracted at
the boundary AB. At the time the
incident ray passing through B is
reaching the boundary at C, the
refracted ray at A will reach E and
the ray passing through F will be
refracted at G and reaches H.
According to Huygens Principle a reflected wavefront CH’E, normal to the refracted
rays AD, GH’ is formed and tvCBtvAE 12 ===
ECABAC ti ∠=∠= θθ &From the geometry
( ) ( ) ACAEECAACBCBAC /sin&/sin =∠=∠ 2
1
sin
sin
v
v
EA
BC
t
i
==
θ
θ
Run This

SOLO
1692Optics History
WILLIAM MOLYNEUX
A professor at Trinity College in Dublin, Molyneux in his 'Dioptica Nova'
(Treatise on Dioptics, Molyneux, W., Dublin, 1692) which was published two
years after it was written, devoted a whole section to the magic lantern and the
camera obscura. His book also contained on the last page, an advertisement for
such things, from a London dealer. On page 181, table 38, figure 2, Molyneux
illustrates his lantern clearly showing a condensing lens, and described the
painted scenes as "frightful and ludicrous". A combination of lenses were used
to provide telescopic effects and a long throw. Molyneux's work is very likely the
first English account in scientific terms of this art-science.
Molyneux's magic lantern (above) of 1690, (published in 1692) from
'Dioptica Nova' (Treatise on Dioptics, Molyneux, W., Dublin, fig2,
tab38, p181, 1692). This illustration shows a simple candle as the
source of illumination and a condensing lens. Notice the object being
projected is a cross, and is upside down in front of the lens (h) in order
to give an upright image, as opposed to the other way around which
was the norm in almost all other illustrations you see of the magic
lantern (excepting Cheselden and Kircher).
Molyneux had completed work on his book Dioptrica Nova while in Chester. The book had the full title Dioptrica
Nova, A treatise of dioptricks in two parts, wherein the various effects and appearances of spherick glasses, both
convex and concave, single and combined, in telescopes and microscopes, together with their usefulness in many
concerns of humane life, are explained; It was published in the first months of 1692. The first part of the book
consists of telescope optics, microscopes, and magic lanterns. It presents 59 propositions, three of which were due to
Flamsteed, and Molyneux acknowledges this. He had obtained Flamsteed’s permission to include them but
somehow Flamsteed was displeased and their friendship came to an end at this point. The second part of the book
contains miscellaneous material such as refraction and light, grinding lens for telescopes, how to find foci of lenses,
testing a telescope, an the relationship between the focal lengths of the objective and the eyepiece.
William Molyneux
1656-1698

95
SOLO
Newton published “Opticks”
1704
In this book he addresses:
• mirror telescope
• theory of colors
• theory of white lite components
• colors of the rainbow
• Newton’ s rings
• polarization
• diffraction
• light corpuscular theory
Newton threw the weight of his authority on the
corpuscular theory. This conviction was due to the
fact that light travels in straight lines, and none of
the waves that he knew possessed this property.
Newton’s authority lasted for one hundred years,
and diffraction results of Grimaldi (1665) and Hooke
(1672), and the view of Huygens (1678) were overlooked.
Optics History

96
SOLO
1704Microscope
John Marshall's Compound
Microscope This instrument was
illustrated in John Harris'
"Lexicon Technicum" on 1704.
It features significant
improvements in the design of the
compound microscope. A fine
focus knob (letter "F" in the
illustration) lowered and raised
the microscope over the subject.
It is set up here to show the
circulation of blood in a fish.
John Marshall (1663-1712)
Born in London, he was—with John
Yarwell—the leading English microscope
maker of the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries. In his workshop he sold
telescopes and microscopes, but his
catalogues also advertised other instruments
such as burning mirrors, magic lanterns, and
spectacles.

97
SOLO
Fiber Optics History
René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (France 1683-1757)
1713
Réaumur was in his own time regarded--correctly--as
one of the greatest of scientists. Réaumur did productive
work on a remarkable range of subjects, including iron
and steel technology, slate-working, porcelain
manufacture, egg incubation and preservation, the
malleability of metals, tin-plating, temperature
measurement (he invented both the Réaumur alcohol
thermometer and the Réaumur temperature scale),
locomotion in invertebrates, insect behavior (especially of
bees), parthenogenesis in aphids, lost limb regeneration,
digestion in birds (he showed digestion to be primarily a
chemical instead of mechanical process), and much
more.
1713: invents spun glass fibers (such as are still used in fiber optics)

98
SOLO
Robert Smith (1689 – 1768) “A Compleat System of Opticks”
Optics History 1726
This is a French translation by L. Pézenas (1767) of the English original by
Robert Smith “A Compleat System of Opticks” (1726)
http://www.coelum.com/calanca/smith_cours_optique.htm
In the first part it addresses the experimental optics.
The second part discusses geometrical optics, refraction, reflection and aberration
of telescopes and microscopes.

99
SOLO
Bradley’s Method The Aberration of Light
In 1727 the English astronomer James Bradley discovered an apparent motion of the
stars which he explained as due to the earth motion in its orbit.
Speed of Light 1727

100
MicroscopesSOLO 1728
This is an instrument made by the Englishman, Edmund Culpeper (c. 1670-
1738). He also made other instruments such as theodolites, sectors, sundials and
quadrants. His output of microscopes included not only the three-pillar
instrument shown here, but screw-barrel microscopes as well.
The wooden pyramidal case for this instrument has Culpeper's trade card glued
to the inside of the back panel. The exact date of its construction in not known,
but it is likely in the period of 1730 to 1735.
The sliding body tubes, made of cardboard covered by tooled green leather (inner
tube) and shagreen (the rough dried skin of sharks or rays, on the outer tube),
are connected by brass, turned tripod legs to a circular stage with a recessed
central opening. The stage, in turn, rests on three similar legs which are fixed
into the circular wooden base.
The concave mirror attaches to the base as well, an original idea of Culpeper's,
allowing transparent objects to be viewed by reflection of light from the mirror.
http://gen.culpepper.com/interesting/medicine/edmund.htm
The most common compound microscope of the 18th C. First sold by the
Englishman Edmund Culpeper (1660-1738), who modernized the Italian tripod
microscope by adding a substage reflecting mirror. The body-tube, made of
wood, glued pasteboard, and leather, is inserted in a cylindrical support covered
in rayfish skin. The cylinder is held by three supports fastened to a circular
wooden base. Later models featured a box foot with a drawer for accessories.
http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/museum/esim.asp?c=202401
Edmund Culpeper’s Microscopes
http://microscope.fsu.edu/primer/museum/culpeper.html
Culpeper was the first to use a
concave mirror placed in the
optical path to illuminate the
sample.

101
SOLO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optics
From “Cyclopaedia” or
“An Universal Dictionary
of Art and Science”,Published by
Ephraim Chambers (1680 – 1740)
in London in 1728
1728Optics History
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/HistSciTech/subcollections/CyclopaediaAbout.shtml

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