Who discovered pinhole imaging?

China Tengzhou Mozi. Mo Zhai (468-376 BC)

Mozi is not only a thinker, but also a scientist and the discoverer of pinhole imaging.

As a pioneer in the theory and practice of photographic optics, Mozi has been unanimously recognized by authoritative figures in the world photographic history. After Mozi discovered pinhole imaging, it was not until the 1930s of 19 that the Frenchman Daguerre invented the camera according to this optical principle. China's Mozi is mentioned in many modern western articles about the history of photography. This is described in detail in WU GANG's History of Photography (China Photography Publishing House). It is mentioned in the book that western historians have determined that Mozi observed the phenomenon of "pinhole imaging" as early as 2300 years ago. Mozi's description of optical phenomena is a great contribution of China people to the theory of photographic optics, which not only lays a theoretical foundation for the development of photography, but also lays an optical theoretical foundation for modern photography and even the rapidly developing digital images.

About 24,500 years ago, Mo Zhai (Mozi), a scholar in China, and his students made the world's first experiment in which small holes became inverted images, and explained the reasons why small holes became inverted images.

/kloc-In the mid-4th century, Zhao Youqin, an astronomical mathematician in the Yuan Dynasty, further investigated the relationship between the image formed by sunlight passing through the small holes in the wall and the small holes in his new book "Pixiang". He found that when the pores are quite small, even if the shape of the pores is not round, the resulting image is round; During the solar eclipse, the image is also missing, just like the solar eclipse; The size of the hole is different, but the size of the image is equal, but the shade is different; If you move the image screen closer to the small hole, the obtained image will become smaller and the brightness will increase. For this phenomenon, after careful thinking and research, Zhao Youqin came to the pinhole imaging law. He thinks that when the hole is quite small, no matter what the shape of the hole is, it is like the reflection of the light source. At this time, the size of the hole is only related to the brightness of the image and does not change the shape of the image. When the hole is quite large, the small hole is imaged schematically. Sometimes, the obtained image is an upright image of the hole.