The Camera Obscura
The Camera Obscura is a device that is used to project an image without the aid of a lens. The idea of the Camera Obscura is said to date back to Aristotle though the camera was not invented until 1267 AD. A tinker named Bacon was the first to bring to life Aristoles ideas. There are many different views as to why Bacon invented the camera, the most recognized by scholars is the first use of the camera was to observe the sun and solar eclipses. It was not until the Renaissance the camera was used for pictures and art.
After the Renaissance the camera's popularity grew. People discovered that the camera could also be used in art. Devinci was one of the first to use the camera to help him draw and understand light patterns.
The Camera Obscura works in a dark room or a box with a hole on one side of it. From this single tiny hole came images of objects from outside the room to the wall on the other side of the hole.
Magic Mirror of Life: a Search for Camera Obscura Rooms
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Copyright © 2003 by the Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina.
URL: http://rpsec.usca.edu/Planetarium/CameraOB.html (January, 2003)
Ruth Patrick Science Education
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University of South Carolina
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