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Aristotle (384-322 BC) understood the optical principle
of the camera obscura. He viewed the crescent shape of a
partially eclipsed sun projected on the ground through the
holes in a sieve, and the gaps between leaves of a plane tree.
The tenth century Arabian scholar Alhazen of Basra had a
portable tent room for solar observation and gave a
full account of the principle. It is said that Roger Bacon
used camera obscura to observe solar eclipses before
the year 1300. In 1490 Leonardo Da Vinci gave two clear descriptions of the camera obscura in his notebooks. Many of the first camera obscuras were large rooms like that illustrated by the Dutch scientist Reinerus Gemma-Frisius in 1544 for use in observing a solar eclipse. In the mid sixteenth century Giovanni Battista della Porta (1538-1615) published what is believed to be the first account of the possibilities as an aid to drawing. It is said that he made a huge "camera" in which he seated his guests, having arranged for a group of actors to perform outside so that the visitors could observe the images on the wall. back / more |
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