ABSTRACT
As illustrated in Figure 18.1, a scene can be imaged either directly onto a screen for real-648 time viewing or painting as in a camera obscura (Latin for dark chamber), or onto the film or sensor of a photographic camera, by placing the target surface behind an opaque panel through which a small hole has been poked. The discovery of this phenomenon was first documented in ancient China by Mohist philosopher Mozi (ca. 470-391 BC), and in the west by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) who reported observing the crescent-shaped projection of a solar eclipse on the ground through the gaps between the leaves of a plane tree in his collection of problems Problemata. Experimentations with dark chambers were later described in the east by Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD) in his Dream Pool Essays (1088 AD), in the middle-east by Iraqi scientist Abu Ali Ibn al-Haytham (latinized as Alhazen or Alhacen) in his Kitab al-Manazir (Arabic for Book of Optics, 1021 AD) and in the west by Leonardo da Vinci in his Codex Atlanticus (1502 AD).
