The date is January 25, 2011 and today I learned about the invention of Camera Obscura (latin for 'dark chamber), the first device invented for the function of capturing images. The concept of Camera Obscura was first devised by an amazing guy named Al Hazen. Al Hazen lived between 965-1040 A.D. during which time he made incredible contribution to science and optics, essentially laying the foundation for Trigonometry, Calculus, Physical Science, Opthamology, Engineering, and of course the concept of Photography. He came up with all of these ideas well before Leonardo Da Vinci. What's fascninating is how totally revolutionary and ahead of his time his ideas were, quite literally predating modern science by a thousand years.
His concept of the Camera Obscura came from the notion of light being trapped and inverted to a backwards upside down image. Since light travels in a straight line, it could be projected through an aperture, or in this instance, a hole cut through one of the sides. This in turn lead to an exposure onto a light sensitive compund. The compound, however, wouldn't come until much later. Al Hazen was the person ever to conduct optical experiments such as this and layed the foundation for future experiements and the subsequent invention of Photography.
Another individual who contributed greatly to the art of photography was a man by the name of Charles Francois Tiphaigne de la Roche. He lived from February 19, 1722 until August 11, 1774. His contributions to Photography are recognized by his prediction of it prior to its actual fruition. He also predicted television and synthetic foods.
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/alhazen.html
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/alhazen.html
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