The milestones of optical inventions
CHANGING OUR VIEW OF THE STARS
It began in the ancient Greece
The first treatises on the phenomenon of light date back to Ancient Greece, and great philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato made detailed studies. Euclid’s Optics, the first work to deal with the mathematical principles of optics, was written around 300 BC and provided the foundation for all later works on the subject. At that time, optics was mainly understood as the science of vision. Many ancient theorists postulated that the eye sends out a kind of visual ray that strikes objects and makes them visible.
The findings of the Greeks were subsequently built on by Arab scholars. With his Book of Optics, Ibn al-Haytham, also known as Alhazen, produced a treatise that was to remain the standard work on the subject for many hundreds of years. His conclusion was that vision involves rays of light entering the eye. The Renaissance marked the beginning of concerted efforts to observe and record nature. The findings of that time revolutionized the world in many areas – including the field of optics.
Major milestones in optics were set by polymaths like Leonardo da Vinci (who invented a machine for grinding concave mirrors and lenses), Francesco Maurolico (the first person to identify the workings of the eye’s lens), and Giovanni Battista della Porta (who discovered that age-related long-sightedness and myopia can be corrected with lenses).
The first telescopes
The telescope was an optical invention that literally expanded our horizons and significantly changed our view of the stars. The first experiments were carried out in Holland around 1600, when it was attempted to mount two lenses behind each other. It’s amazing that it took so long to come up with this simple idea. Galileo Galilei heard about it and began grinding suitable lenses in his glass-blowing workshops in Venice.
Galileo Galilei's telescope.
The arrangement of lenses
Engraving depicting the arrangement of lenses in Galileo Galilei's telescope. This had two double convex lenses. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) an Italian polymath, physicist, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. Dated 19th Century. (Photo by: Universal History Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Siglo XVII
Los telescopios de Galileo y Newton
Fabricadas en 1923 y 1924, respectivamente, son réplicas de los telescopios inventados por Galileo en 1609 y Sir Isaac Newton en 1668. El telescopio de Galileo (derecha) usa lentes para ampliar unas 21 veces, pero ofrece una imagen muy restringida, de modo que solo podía ver alrededor de un tercio de la Luna. El telescopio Newtons (izquierda) utiliza un espejo cóncavo en lugar de una simple lente para recoger la luz, produciendo un color falso debido a la dispersión de la luz. Para usar el telescopio, el observador mira a través de un ocular en un lateral del tubo. El camino de la luz se refleja tanto en el espejo primario como en uno secundario plano cerca de la parte superior de la entrada del tubo. (Foto de SSPL/Getty Images)
The age of modern Astronomy was born
In 1609 Galileo Galilei built his own telescope with 20x magnification, and immediately realized how useful it was for spotting enemy ships on the horizon. In December of the same year Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens for the very first time. The age of modern astronomy was born, and 300 years later it still held the same fascination for Wilhelm Swarovski.