-
Jan 31, 1000
Euclid
300 BCE
Euclids catoptrics correctly notes that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence -
Jan 1, 1270
spectacles
spectacles, the first practical optical instrument, appear in florence, italy -
two-element optical system
father and son teams hans and zacharias janssen introduce the compund microscope -
telescopes
two different telescopes are introduced by lippershy and galileo -
Art of glass
Kepler’s Dioptrice and Neri’s Art of Glass are published -
Law of refraction
Snell works out the law of refraction, the first comprehensive description of this phenomenon. -
newtons discovery
newton dervies the imaging equation, a keystone in optical design that relates the focal length of a lens to the distance between it and the object and image plans -
Flint glass
Ravenscroft patents flint glass. -
Light wave
Huygens suggests that light travels as a wave. -
newton
newton declares light travels as a ray -
Chromatic aberration
Hall corrects chromatic aberration using crown and flint glasses. -
Light interference
Light interference is demonstrated by Young -
High quality achromats
Fraunhofer produces high quality achro- mats and character- izes the dispersive properties of different glass compositions. -
photograph
daguerre introduces an early form of photograph-the daguerreo-type-in which an image is exposed on polished silver. the invention of photography has little impact on optical design -
Theory of light
Maxwell’s equations help to firmly establish the wave theory of light. -
imaging improvement
Abbe’s wave optical interpretation of image formation enables a non-materials-based improvement to imaging. -
Interpretation of image formation
Abbe’s wave opti- cal interpretation
of image formation enables a non-mate- rials-based improve- ment to imaging. -
radiation
Planck describes the quantum nature of radiation. -
kodak brownie camera
Eastman introduces the Kodak Brownie camera. Named after popular children’s book characters, it sells for $1 and uses film that sells for 15¢ a roll. For the first time, photography is inexpensive and accessible to anyone who wants to take "snapshots." In the first year 150,000 cameras are sold, and many of the first owners are children. In the course of its long production life, the Brownie has more than 175 models; the last one is marketed as late as 1980 in England. -
Hot cathode x-ray tube invented
William David Coolidge invents the hot cathode x-ray tube, using a thermionic tube with a heated cathode electron emitter to replace the cold, or gas, tube. All modern x-ray tubes are of the thermionic type. -
Theory of information
Shannon develops his theory of information,
which states that messages can be transmitted over a noisy channel, and introduces the bit. -
Electromagnetic impacts
Veselago postulates the impact on electromagnetic phenena due to materials with negative indices of refraction. -
smith and boyle
Smith & Boyle invent the charge coupled device. -
Mammography research
Albert Solomon, a pathologist in Berlin, uses a conventional x-ray machine to produce images of 3,000 gross anatomic mastectomy specimens, observing black spots at the centers of breast carcinomas. Mammography, the resulting imaging, has been used since 1927 as a diagnostic tool in the early detection of breast cancer. -
citation
Mait, Joseph N. "Acoustical Imaging." <i>Acoustical Imaging</i> (2009): n. pag. 20 Feb. 2006. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
