|
~300 BC
|
Euclid (Alexandria) In his Optica he
noted that light travels in straight lines and described the law of
reflection. He believed that vision involves rays going from the eyes
to the object seen and he studied the relationship between the apparent
sizes of objects and the angles that they subtend at the eye
|
|
Probably
between
100 BC and 150 AD
|
Hero (also known as Heron) of Alexandria. In his Catoptrica,
Hero showed by a geometrical method that the actual path taken by a ray
of light reflected from a plane mirror is shorter than any other
reflected path that might be drawn between the source and point of
observation.
|
|
~140 AD
|
Claudius Ptolemy (Alexandria). In a twelfth-century latin
translation from the arabic that is assigned to Ptolemy, a study of
refraction, including atmospheric refraction, was described. It was
suggested that the angle of refraction is proportional to the angle of
incidence
|
|
965-1020
|
Ibn-al-Haitham ( also known as
Alhazen) (b. Basra). In his investigations, he used
spherical and parabolic mirrors and was aware of spherical aberration.
He also investigated the magnification produced by lenses and
atmospheric refraction. His work was translated into latin and became
accessible to later european scholars
|
|
~1220
|
Robert Grosseteste (England). Magister scholarum
of the University of Oxford and a proponent of the view that
theory should be compared with observation, Grosseteste considered that
the properties of light have particular significance in natural
philosophy and stressed the importance of mathematics and geometry in
their study. He believed that colours are related to intensity and that
they extend from white to black, white being the purest and lying
beyond red with black lying below blue. The rainbow was conjectured to
be a consequence of reflection and refraction of sunlight by layers in
a 'watery cloud' but the effect of individual droplets was not
considered. He held the view, shared by the earlier Greeks, that vision
involves emanations from the eye to the object perceived.
|
|
~1267
|
Roger Bacon (England). A follower of Grosseteste at Oxford, Bacon extended Grosseteste's work on
optics. He considered that the speed of light is finite and that it is
propagated through a medium in a manner analogous to the propagation of
sound. In his Opus Maius, Bacon described his studies of the
magnification of small objects using convex lenses and suggested that
they could find application in the correction of defective eyesight. He
attributed the phenomenon of the rainbow to the reflection of sunlight
from individual raindrops
|
|
~1270
|
Witelo (Silesia). Completed his Perspectiva
which was destined to remain a standard text on optics for several
centuries. Amongst other things, Witelo described a method of machining
parabolic mirrors from iron and carried out careful observations on
refraction. He recognised that the angle of refraction is not
proportional to the angle of incidence but was unaware of total
internal reflection
|
|
1303
|
Bernard of Gordon (France). A Physician, he mentioned the use
of spectacles as a way of correcting long-sightedness
|
|
1304~1310
|
Theodoric (Dietrich) of Freiberg. Theodoric explained the rainbow as a
consequence of refraction and internal reflection within individual
raindrops. He gave an explanation for the appearance of a primary and
secondary bow but, following earlier notions, he considered colour to
arise from a combination of darkness and brightness in different
proportions
|
|
~1590
|
Zacharius Jensen (Netherlands). Constructed a compound microscope
with a converging objective lens and a diverging eye lens
|
|
1604
|
Johannes Kepler (Germany). In his book Ad
Vitellionem Paralipomena, Kepler suggested that the intensity
of light from a point source varies inversely with the square of the
distance from the source, that light can be propagated over an
unlimited distance and that the speed of propagation is infinite. He
explained vision as a consequence of the formation of an image on the
retina by the lens in the eye and correctly described the causes of
long-sightedness and short-sightedness
|
|
1608
|
Hans Lippershey (Netherlands). Constructed a telescope with a
converging objective lens and a diverging eye lens
|
|
1609
|
Galileo Galilei (Italy).Constructed his own version of
Lippershey's telescope and started to use it for astronomical
observations
|
|
1610
|
Galileo Galilei (Italy). Using his telescope, Galileo
reported several astronomical discoveries including that Jupiter has
four moons
|
|
1611
|
Johannes Kepler (Germany). In his Dioptrice,
Kepler presented an explanation of the principles involved in the
convergent/divergent lens microscopes and telescopes. In the same
treatise, he suggested that a telescope could be constructed using a
converging objective and a converging eye lens and described a
combination of lenses that would later become known as the telephoto
lens. He discovered total internal reflection, but was unable to find a
satisfactory relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle
of refraction
|
|
~1618
|
Christopher Scheiner. Constructed a
telescope of the type suggested by Kepler with converging objective and
eye lenses. This type of telescope has since become known as the
'astronomical telescope' but it is uncertain when the first such
instrument was constructed
|
|
1621
|
Willebrord Snell (Leiden). Discovered the relationship between
the angle of incidence and angle of refraction when light passes from
one transparent medium to another
|
|
1647
|
B Cavalieri. Derived a relationship
between the radii of curvature of the surfaces of a thin lens and its
focal length
|
|
1657
|
Pierre de Fermat (France). Enunciated his principle of 'least
time', according to which, a ray of light follows the path which takes
it to its destination in the shortest time. This principle is
consistent with Snell's law of refraction
|
|
1663
|
James Gregory (England). Suggested the use of a converging
mirror for the objective of a telescope as a cure for aberrations
|
|
1665
|
Francesco Maria Grimaldi (Italy). In a book entitled Physico-Mathesis
de lumine, coloribus et iride published posthumously,
Grimaldi's observations of diffraction when he passed white light
through small apertures were described. Grimaldi concluded that light
is a fluid that exhibits wave-like motion
|
|
1665
|
Robert Hooke (England). In his treatise, Micrographia,
Hooke described his observations with a compound microscope having a
converging objective lens and a converging eye lens. In the same work,
he described his observations of the colours produced in flakes of
mica, soap bubbles and films of oil on water. He recognised that the
colour produced in mica flakes is related to their thickness but was
unable to establish any definite relationship between thickness and
colour. Hooke advocated a wave theory for the propagation of light
|
|
1666
|
Isaac Newton (England). Described the splitting up of white
light into its component colours when it is passed through a prism
|
|
1668
|
Isaac Newton (England). As a solution to the problem of
chromatic aberration exhibited by refracting telescopes, Newton constructed the first reflecting
telescope
|
|
1669
|
Erasmus Bartholinus (Denmark). Discovered double refraction in
calcite
|
|
1672
|
Isaac Newton (England). Newton's earlier observations on the
dispersion of sunlight as it passed through a prism were reported to
the Royal Society. Newton concluded that sunlight is composed
of light of different colours which are refracted by glass to different
extents
|
|
1676
|
Olaf Römer (Denmark) Deduced that the speed of light is
finite from detailed observations of the eclipses of the moons of
Jupiter. From Römer's data, a value of about 2 x 108
m.s-1 is obtainable
|
|
1678
|
Christiaan Huygens (Netherlands). In a communication to the Academie
des Science in Paris, Huygens propounded his wave theory
of light (published in his Traite de Lumiere in
1690). He considered that light is transmitted through an all-pervading
aether that is made up of small elastic particles, each of which can
act as a secondary source of wavelets. On this basis, Huygens explained
many of the known propagation characteristics of light, including the
double refraction in calcite discovered by Bartholinus
|
|
1704
|
Isaac Newton (England). In his Optiks, Newton put forward his view that light is
corpuscular but that the corpuscles are able to excite waves in the
aether. His adherence to a corpuscular nature of light was based
primarily on the presumption that light travels in straight lines
whereas waves can bend into the region of shadow
|
|
1727
|
James Bradley (England). Bradley calculated the speed of
light from observations of the 'aberration' of light from stars, an
apparent motion of a star arising from the value of the speed of light
in relation to the speed of the earth in its orbit
|
|
1733
|
Chester More Hall. Constructed an
achromatic compound lens using components made from glasses with
different refractive indices
|
|
1752
|
Thomas Melvill (Scotland). Observed that the spectra of flames
into which metals or salts have been introduced show bright lines
characteristic of what has been introduced into the flame
|
|
1801
|
Thomas Young (b. England). Provided support for the wave
theory by demonstrating the interference of light
|
|
1802
|
William Hyde Wollaston (England). Discovered that the spectrum of
sunlight is crossed by a number of dark lines, but he did not interpret
them in accordance with current explanations
[Phil.Trans.Roy.Soc., London. p365, 1802]
|
|
1808
|
Etienne Louis Malus (France). As a result of observing light
reflected from the windows of the Palais Luxembourg in Paris through a
calcite crystal as it is rotated, Malus discovered an effect that later
led to the conclusion that light can be polarized by reflection
|
|
1814
|
Joseph Fraunhofer (Germany). Fraunhofer rediscovered the dark
lines in the solar spectrum noted by Wollaston and determined their
position with improved precision
|
|
1815
|
David Brewster (Scotland). Described the polarization of light
by reflection
|
|
1816
|
Augustin Jean Fresnel (France). Presented a rigorous treatment of
diffraction and interference phenomena showing that they can be
explained in terms of a wave theory of light
|
|
1816-1817
|
As a result of investigations by
Fresnel and Dominique Francois Arago on the interference of polarized
light and their subsequent interpretation by Thomas Young, it was
concluded that light waves are transverse and not , as had been
previously thought, longitudinal
|
|
1819
|
Joseph Fraunhofer (Germany). Described his investigations of the
diffraction of light by gratings which were initially made by winding
fine wires around parallel screws
|
|
1821
|
Augustin Jean Fresnel (France). Presented the laws which enable the
intensity and polarization of reflected and refracted light to be
calculated
|
|
1823
|
Joseph Fraunhofer (Germany). Published his theory of diffraction
|
|
1828
|
William Nicol (Scotland). Invented a polarizing prism made
from two calcite components. The device became known subsequently as a
"nicol prism"
|
|
1834
|
John Scott Russell (Scotland). Observed a 'wave of translation'
caused by a boat being drawn along the Union Canal in Scotland, and noted how it travelled great
distances without apparent change of shape. Such waves subsequently
became known as 'solitary waves' and their study led to the idea of
solitons, optical analogues of which have been propagated in optic
fibres
[Report of the 14th meeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, p311, 1844]
|
|
1835
|
George Airy (England). Calculated the form of the
diffraction pattern produced by a circular aperture
|
|
1845
|
Michael Faraday (England). Described the rotation of the plane
of polarized light that is passed through glass in a magnetic field
(the Faraday effect)
|
|
1849
|
Armand Hypolite Louis Fizeau (France). Using a rotating toothed wheel to
break up a light beam into a series of pulses, Fizeau made the first
non-astronomical determination of the speed of light (in air). Obtained
a value of 313,300 km.s-1
|
|
1850
|
J L Foucault (France). Foucault determined the speed of
light in air using a rotating mirror method. Obtained a value of
298,000 km.s-1.In the same year, Foucault used a
rotating mirror method to measure the speed of light in stationary
water and found that it was less than in air
|
|
1855
|
David Alter (USA). Described the spectrum of hydrogen
and other gases
|
|
1859
|
H L Fizeau (France). Performed an
experiment to determine whether the velocity of light in water is
affected by flow of the water. He found that it is, the change in the
velocity of light being about a half the velocity of the flowing water
|
|
1860
|
Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav
Kirchoff. Observed the emission spectra of alkali metals in flames and
also noted the presence of dark lines arising from absorption when
observing the spectrum of a bright light source through the flame. The
origin of these dark lines was similar to that of dark lines in the
solar spectrum observed by Wollaston and Fraunhofer and attributed to
the absorption of light by gases in the solar atmosphere that are
cooler than those emitting the light
[Annalen der Physik und der Chemie. 110, 1860]
|
|
1865
|
James Clerk Maxwell (Scotland). From his studies of the equations
describing electric and magnetic fields, it was found that the speed of
an electromagnetic wave should, within experimental error, be the same
as the speed of light. Maxwell concluded that light is a form of
electromagnetic wave
|
|
1869
|
John Tyndall (Ireland). Described experimental studies of
the scattering of light from aerosols
[Phil. Mag. 37, 384; 38 , 156,
1869]
|
|
1871
|
John William Strutt, third Baron
Rayleigh (England). Presented a general law which
related the intensity of light scattered from small particles to the
wavelength of the light when the dimensions of the particles is much
less than the wavelength. He also made a 'zone plate' which produced
focussing of light by Fresnel diffraction
[Phil. Mag. 41, 107,274,447, 1871]
|
|
1873
|
Ernst Abbe (Germany). Presented a detailed theory of
image formation in the microscope
|
|
1874
|
Marie Alfred Cornu (France). Described a graphical approach (the
Cornu spiral) to the solution of diffraction problems
|
|
1875
|
John Kerr (Scotland). Demonstrated the quadratic
electro-optic effect (the Kerr effect) in glass
|
|
1879
|
Josef Stefan (Austria). Presented an empirical relationship
which asserted that the total radiant energy emitted from a body per
unit time is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute
temperature of the body
|
|
1879
|
Joseph Swan (England). Demonstrated an electric lamp with
a carbon filament
|
|
1879
|
Thomas Alvin Edison (USA). Developed the electric lamp using
cotton as the source of the carbon filament and produced it as a
practical device
|
|
1882
|
Albert Abraham Michelson (USA, b. Poland). Described the Michelson
interferometer
|
|
1885
|
Johann Jakob Balmer (Switzerland). Presented an empirical formula
describing the position of the emission lines in the visible part of
the spectrum of hydrogen
|
|
1887
|
Albert A Michelson and Edward W Morley
(USA). Described their unsuccessful
attempts to detect the motion of the earth with respect to the
'Luminiferous Aether' by investigating whether the speed of light
depends upon the direction in which the light beam moves (The
Michelson-Morley experiment)
|
|
1887
|
Heinrich Hertz (Germany). Accidentally discovered the
photoelectric effect
|
|
1890
|
O Wiener. Observed standing waves in
light reflected at normal incidence from a silver mirror. Nodes and
antinodes in the standing wave were detected photographically and it
was concluded that a node exists at the mirror surface. From this it is
concluded that, at least as far as photographic effects are concerned,
the electric component of the electomagnetic wave has the more
important effect
|
|
1891/92
|
L Mach and L Zehnder separately
described what has become known as the Mach-Zehnder interferometer
which could monitor changes in refractive index, and hence density, in
compressible gas flows. The instrument has subsequently been applied in
the field of aerodynamics
|
|
1895
|
D J Korteweg and G deVries (Netherlands). Korteweg and his student, deVries,
derived a non-linear partial differential equation governing the
propagation of waves in shallow water that described the soliton wave
described by John Scott Russell. Study of the Korteweg-deVries (KdV)
equation has had an important role in the development of the
mathematical description of solitons
|
|
1896
|
Wilhelm Wien (Germany). Described how the spectral
distribution of radiation from a black body varies with the temperature
of the body
[Annalen der Physik 38, 662, 1896]
|
|
1896
|
Pieter Zeeman (Netherlands). Observed that the spectral lines
emitted by an atomic source are broadened when the source is placed in
a magnetic field
|
|
1899
|
Lord Rayleigh (England). Explained the blue colour of the
sky and red sunsets as being due to the preferential scattering of blue
light by molecules in the earth's atmosphere.
[Phil. Mag. 47 , 375, 1899]
|
|
1899
|
Marie P A C Fabry and Jean B G G A
Perot (France). Described the Fabry-Perot
interferometer which enabled high resolution observation of spectral
features
[C Fabry and A Perot. Ann.Chim.Phys. 16, p115, 1899]
|
|
1900
|
Max Karl Planck (Germany). In his successful explanation of
the spectrum of radiation emitted from a hot black body, Planck found
it necessary to introduce a universal constant described as the quantum
of action, now known as Planck's constant. A consequence is that the
energy of an oscillator is the sum of small discrete units, each of
which has a value that is proportional to the frequency of oscillation
|
|
1905
|
Albert Einstein (Germany). Explained the photoelectric effect
on the basis that light is quantized, the quanta subsequently becoming
known as photons
[Annalen der Physik 17, p132, 1905]
[Annalen der Physik 20, p199, 1906]
|
|
1908
|
Gustav Mie (Germany). Presented a description of light
scattering from particles that are not small compared to the wavelength
of light, taking account of particle shape and the difference in
refractive index between the particles and the supporting medium
|
|
1913
|
Neils Henrik David Bohr (Denmark). Bohr advanced a theory of the atom
in which the electrons were presumed to occupy stable orbits with
well-defined energy. According to this theory, the absorption and
emission of light by an atom occurs as a result of an electron moving
from one orbit to another of different energy. This allowed an
explanation of the observation that atoms absorb and emit light at
particular frequencies that are characteristic of the atom
|
|
1915
|
William David Coolidge (USA) Patented
a method of making electric lamp filaments from tungsten
|
|
1916
|
Albert Einstein (Germany). Proposed that the stimulated
emission of light is a process that should occur in addition to
absorption and spontaneous emission
|
|
1919
|
Sir Arthur Eddington (England). Observed the eclipse of the Sun on
29th May from Principe Island off the west coast of Africa with the intention of determining the
apparent position of stars that appeared close to the Sun's disk. He
concluded that the path of light is bent by the Sun's gravitational
field in accordance with predictions of Einstein's theory of General
Relativity
|
|
1926
|
A A Michelson (USA). Performed a series of experiments
to determine the speed of light using a rotating mirror method with a
light path from the observatory at Mount Wilson to a reflector on Mount San Antonio, a distance of 22 miles (35 km).
Obtained an average value of 299,796 km.s-1
|
|
1926
|
John
Logie Baird (England) gave the world's first public demonstration of a
working television system that transmitted live moving images with tone
graduation (grayscale) on 26 January 1926 at his laboratory in London
|
|
1927
|
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (England). Presented a method of representing
the electromagnetic radiation field in quantized form
[Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 114, 243, 710,
1927]
|
|
1928
|
Chandrasekhara Raman (India). Observed weak ineleastic scattering
of light from liquids, an effect arisng from the scattering of light by
vibrating molecules and now known as Raman scattering
[Indian J. Phys. 2 ,p387, 1928]
|
|
1929
|
Edwin Powell Hubble
(USA). Devised a classification system for the various
galaxies he observed, sorting them by content, distance, shape, and
brightness; it was then he noticed red-shifts in the emission of light
from the galaxies, seeing that they were moving away from each other at
a rate constant to the distance between them. From these
observations, he was able to formulate Hubble's Law, helping
astronomers determine the age of the universe, and proving that the
universe was expanding.
|
|
1932
|
P Debye and F W Sears and also R Lucas
and P Biquard independently observed the diffraction of light by
ultrasonic waves
|
|
1932
|
E H Land (USA). Invented "polaroid" polarizing film
|
|
1934
|
Frits Zernicke (Netherlands). Described the phase-contrast
microscope
|
|
1939
|
Walter Geffcken (Germany). Described the transmission
interference filter
|
|
1941
|
W C Anderson. Measured the speed of light using a
Kerr cell to modulate a light beam that passed through a Michelson
interferometer. Obtained a value of 299,776 km.s-1
|
|
1946
|
First space
photographs from V-2 rockets.
|
|
1947
|
RCA introduced the
rear projection 648PTK television to overcome the small size of CRT's
at that time. This set had a "giant" 15 by 20 inch rectangular screen.
|
|
1948
|
Dennis Gabor ( b.Hungary). Described
the principles of wavefront reconstruction, later to become known as
holography
|
|
1948
|
Lord Partick
Maynard Stuart Blackett (England), Imperial College, London, Awarded the Nobel Prize for his development of the
Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries
therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation.
|
|
1953
|
Frits (Frederik)
Zernike – Nobel Prize in Physics
"for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his
invention of the phase contrast microscope"
|
|
1954
|
C H Townes, J P Gordon and H J Zieger (USA). In a paper entitled "Molecular
microwave oscillator and new hyperfine structures in the microwave
spectrum of NH3", they described a maser built
at Columbia University which used ammonia to produce
coherent microwave radiation.
[Physical Review. 95, p 282, 1954]
|
|
1955
|
On July 1, 1955 the Society of Photographic
Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) is founded to specialize in the
application of photo-optical instrumentation. The Society's first local
technical meeting is held in Los Angeles on August 8.
|
|
1957
|
Soviets launch the first orbiting
satellite, “Sputnik”, starting the space race.
|
|
1958
|
Arthur L Schawlow and Charles H Townes
(USA). Published a paper entitled
"Infrared and Optical Masers" in which it was proposed that the maser
principle could be extended to the visible region of the spectrum to
give rise to what later became known as a 'laser'
[Physical Review. 112(6), p1940, 1958]
|
|
1960’s
|
US begins
collection of intelligence photography from Earth orbiting satellites,
CORONA.
|
|
1960
|
Theodore H Maiman (USA). Described the first laser. The
laser was built at the Hughes Research Laboratories and used a rod of
synthetic ruby as the lasing medium
[Nature. 187, p493, 1960]
|
|
1960
|
American U-2 spy
plane is "shot down" over Sverdlovsk, USSR while taking photographs of
military installations in the USSR.
|
|
1961
|
P A Franken, A E Hill, C W Peters and
G Weinreich. Demonstrated harmonic generation from light by passing the
pulse from a ruby laser through a quartz crystal
|
|
1961
|
Ali Javan, W R Bennett and Donald R
Harriott (USA). Described the first gas laser.
Built at the Bell Laboratories, the lasing medium was a mixture of
helium and neon and emitted at wavelengths in the near infrared, the
most intense beam being at a wavelength of 1.153 um
["Population inversion and continuous maser oscillation in a gas
discharge containing He-Ne mixtures", Physical Review Letters, 6,
p106, 1961]
|
|
1962
|
Four groups in the United States described the observation of
stimuated emission from homojunction gallium arsenide semiconductor
diodes
[M I Nathan et al, (IBM). Applied Physics Letters. 1,
p62, 1962]
[R N Hall et al, (GEC). Physical Review Letters. 9,
p366, 1962]
[T M Quist et al, (MIT). Applied Physics Letters. 1,
p91, 1962]
[N Holonyak and S F Bevacqua, (GEC). Applied
Physics Letters. 1, p82, 1962]
|
|
1962
|
Zaitor and Tsuprun
construct prototype nine lens multispectral camera permitting
nine different film-filter combinations Also during this year
our country came very close to nuclear war when military intelligence
photography was brought into the lime light by the Cuban Missile
Crisis.
|
|
1963
|
Kumar Patel (USA, b India). Announced the development of the
first carbon dioxide laser at Bell Laboratories
|
|
1964
|
William B Bridges (USA). Built the first ion lasers at
Hughes Research Laboratories
["Visible and uv laser oscillation at 118 wavelengths
in ionized neon, argon, krypton, oxygen and other gases"
W B Bridges and Arthur N Chester, Applied Optics, 4,
p573, 1965]
|
|
1964
|
Jerome V V Kasper and George C
Pimentel (USA). Described the photodissociation
Iodine laser, built at the University of California, Berkeley, in which a population inversion in
atomic iodine was produced by the photodissociation of either CF3I
or CH3I. The laser output was in the near
infrared at a wavelength of 1.315 um
[Applied Physics Letters. 5(11), p231, 1964]
|
|
1966
|
Sorokin and J R Lankard. Built the
first organic dye laser
|
|
1967/69
|
S L McCall and E L Hahn (USA). Described studies of the
propagation of very short optical pulses through a medium consisting of
resonant two level atoms, developing in the process the criteria to be
satisfied by the shape of the pulse so that it would propagate as an
optical solution (the area theorem) and describing the propagation
mechanism of self-induced transparency (SIT)
[Physical Review Letters, 18, p908, 1967]
[Physical Review, 183, p457, 1969]
|
|
1971
|
John M J Madey (USA). In a paper entitled "Stimulated
emission of bremsstrahlung in a periodic magnetic field", Madey
outlined the principles of the free electron laser
[Journal of Applied Physics, 42, p1906, 1971]
|
|
1975
|
Hänsch and
Schawlow made the important suggestion that it
was possible to use the strong velocity dependence of the
scattering force due to Doppler shift for the optical cooling
or damping of atomic motions.
|
|
1976
|
John M J Madey (USA). A group at Stanford University demonstrated the first free electron
laser (FEL)
|
|
1984
|
R E Fischer (USA). Elected President of
SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering .
|
|
1985
|
D L Matthews et al
(USA). Described x-ray laser experiments
at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in which amplified
spontaneous emission was observed at wavelengths around 20nm
["Demonstration of a soft x-ray amplifier", Physical Review Letters.
54, p110, 1985]
|
|
1986
|
Gerd Binnig (Germany). Awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physics for his scanning tunneling microscope. With this invention, the nanotech era in
imaging was launched by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Roher from the IBM
Zurich Research Laboratory.
|
|
1987
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R E Fischer (USA), established Optics
1, Inc. as an optics research and development company at Westlake Village California
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1990
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The Hubble space telescope was
positioned in a low Earth orbit on 25th April, 1990
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1990
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Bell Labs
transmitted a 2.5 Gb/s signal over 7,500 km of optical fiber without
regeneration.
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1993
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Texas Instruments
creates the “DLP Display”, Digital Light Processor,
a matrix of microscopic mirrors using semiconductor manufacturing
techniques.
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1995
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A new class of
intelligence satellite is being developed. The new satellite
code named 8x is said to be a major upgrade of the KH-12 spy
satellite. The satellite which may weight as much as twenty
tons will be able to acquire "intricately detailed images of areas as
large as 1,000 square miles of the Earth's surface.
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1997
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Steven Chu
awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in optical
tweezing in his work on cooling and trapping atoms. Steven Chu
described how Askhin had first envisioned optical tweezing as a method
for trapping atoms. Ashkin was able to trap larger particles (10 to
10,000 nanometers in diameter) but it fell to Chu to extend these techniques to the trapping of
atoms (0.1 nanometers in diameter).
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2000
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R E Fischer (USA),
first publication of “Optical System Design” by
McGraw Hill, the industry’s “easy to use”
text on optics and system design.
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2001
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I. Hartl, X. D. Li,
C. Chudoba, R. K. Ghanta, T. H. Ko, J. G. Fujimoto, J. K. Ranka, and R.
S. Windeler, experiments demonstrate Ultrahigh-resolution OCT (optical
coherence tomography) for the first time , Opt. Lett. 26,
608-610 (2001)
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2003
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Optical Camouflage
System invented by Susumu Tachi, Masahiko Inami, and Naoki Kawakami
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2004
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After the Columbia disaster, NASA desperately needed a
boost, a success that would restore people's faith in space
exploration. This year the agency got two: the twin Mars Exploration
rovers returned spectacular pictures.
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2005
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Optics 1, Inc. ships commercial
“Holographic Optical Tweezing” (HOT) box.
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2006
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The new Optical
SETI telescope at the Oak Ridge Observatory in Harvard, Massachusetts,
was inaugurated on April 11, 2006.
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2007
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Optics 1, Inc. celebrates 20th
Anniversary
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