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300 BCE
Euclids catoptrics correctly notes that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence -
spectacles, the first practical optical instrument, appear in florence, italy
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father and son teams hans and zacharias janssen introduce the compund microscope
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two different telescopes are introduced by lippershy and galileo
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Kepler’s Dioptrice and Neri’s Art of Glass are published
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Snell works out the law of refraction, the first comprehensive description of this phenomenon.
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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
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Ravenscroft patents flint glass.
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Huygens suggests that light travels as a wave.
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newton declares light travels as a ray
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Hall corrects chromatic aberration using crown and flint glasses.
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Light interference is demonstrated by Young
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Fraunhofer produces high quality achro- mats and character- izes the dispersive properties of different glass compositions.
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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
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Maxwell’s equations help to firmly establish the wave theory of light.
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Abbe’s wave optical interpretation of image formation enables a non-materials-based improvement to imaging.
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Abbe’s wave opti- cal interpretation
of image formation enables a non-mate- rials-based improve- ment to imaging. -
Planck describes the quantum nature of radiation.
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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.
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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.
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Shannon develops his theory of information,
which states that messages can be transmitted over a noisy channel, and introduces the bit. -
Veselago postulates the impact on electromagnetic phenena due to materials with negative indices of refraction.
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Smith & Boyle invent the charge coupled device.
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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.
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Mait, Joseph N. "Acoustical Imaging." <i>Acoustical Imaging</i> (2009): n. pag. 20 Feb. 2006. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
