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Camera Obscura (1490)
Camera Obscura

A camera obscura is a dark box with a small hole in the front. Light passes through this hole and lands on the back of the box, casting an upside-down version of the scene. Although this idea had been understood by scholars for hundreds of years, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to write a detailed description of the camera obscura in his Atlantic Codex in 1490. An astronomer named Gemma Frisius (1508-1555) was the first to draw a camera obscura around 1545.

CreditImage Credit

[1] Frisius, Gemma. Gemma Frisius’ illustration of a camera obscura – 1545. 'De Radio Astronomica et Geometrico'. Accessed: 22 July 2010.

ReferenceReferences

[1] BBC - History - British History in depth: Vermeer and the Camera Obscura. bbc.co.uk. 23 Jun 2010