Who Invented Camera Obscura?
The camera obscura was developed by Abu Ali Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham in the 19th century. An Arab scientist, Ibn al-Haithem specialized in optics. Spending much of his life in Cairo, Ibn al-Haithem was attempting to discover the rate of light and how it passes through objects. During his creation of the camera obscura, Ibn al-Haithem was attempting to establish the rate at which light passes. Many attribute the principles that Ibn al Haitham used to create camera obscura to Chinese philosophy Mozi and Aristotle. Aristotle noted that the sun can pass through the leaves on the ground to former patterns and that a circular image can be created by the sun. Mozi is credited with being one of the first to mention the pinhole camera–a foundational idea to camera obscura.
