Pinhole history before 15th century
In the 5th century B.C., Chinese scholars had discovered that light travels in straight lines. The philosopher Mo Ti recorded the formation of an inverted image with a pinhole. Aristotle wrote about pinhole images in the 4th century B.C. In his famous books are references to pinhole observations. In the 10th century A.D., Arabian physicist and mathematician Alhazen, described a pinhole’s usefulness for viewing a solar eclipses without the risk to the eyes. These are just some of the fascinating accounts describing the early experiments and observations by scholars.
Using the pinhole technique is one of the most authentic ways to record photographic images. The technique is based on the principle of the camera obscura which is centuries old. Basically it's nothing more than a lightproof box with, in the middle of one side, a tiny little hole instead of a lens. The light works its way through the pinhole right into the enclosed room and that is how at the opposite side of the pinhole an image appears which is upside down. We can preserve the image by putting material which is sensitive to light at the side where the image shows up and develop it after exposure. However photography was only invented in 1839 the principle of the pinhole has been known since ages. As early as the 4th century B.C. this phenomenon was mentioned by Aristotle in one of his writings. Light falling through a small opening between the leaves of a tree gives a perfect projection of the sun on the ground. Even though the opening between the leaves has a shape which is irregular and is not perfectly round, yet the image on the ground is. Aristotle could never explain this. This happened much later in the 16th century, because scientists were frequently experimenting with the pinhole technique. All this started in the 13th and 14th century. Different scientists used the pinhole principle in order to study the eclipse of the sun and the wave-length of the light.
Using the pinhole technique is one of the most authentic ways to record photographic images. The technique is based on the principle of the camera obscura which is centuries old. Basically it's nothing more than a lightproof box with, in the middle of one side, a tiny little hole instead of a lens. The light works its way through the pinhole right into the enclosed room and that is how at the opposite side of the pinhole an image appears which is upside down. We can preserve the image by putting material which is sensitive to light at the side where the image shows up and develop it after exposure. However photography was only invented in 1839 the principle of the pinhole has been known since ages. As early as the 4th century B.C. this phenomenon was mentioned by Aristotle in one of his writings. Light falling through a small opening between the leaves of a tree gives a perfect projection of the sun on the ground. Even though the opening between the leaves has a shape which is irregular and is not perfectly round, yet the image on the ground is. Aristotle could never explain this. This happened much later in the 16th century, because scientists were frequently experimenting with the pinhole technique. All this started in the 13th and 14th century. Different scientists used the pinhole principle in order to study the eclipse of the sun and the wave-length of the light.