OPTICS IN ANCIENT GREECE

As early as the 6th century BC, the ancient Greeks were interested in the science of optics, which deals with light and the changes it undergoes and causes. Plato, Democritus, Empedocles, Aristotle, and later Archimedes, Euclid, Heron of Alexandria, and even Claudius Ptolemy studied and wrote about vision, light, rays, and laid the groundwork for modern theories on light. How is light transmitted, how does vision work, how are ocular diseases treated? What is refraction, reflection, minimizing, magnification, and what are their applications? Studies that led to the first mirrors, binoculars, lighthouses (culminating in the Lighthouse of Alexandria), telescopes, the early “darkroom”, the first eye surgeries, perhaps the first eyeglasses, the “dioptres” as they were called, and even theatrical scenography with the first optical tricks on stage. Of course, they helped to conceive Archimedes’ project that destroyed the Roman fleet with the fabled – and legendary – Archimedes’ mirror. Another fascinating page from the book of achievements of ancient Greeks’ incredibly bold, creative and resourceful thinking.