Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Glasses are definitely one of the most important applications of optics. Yet, although lenses had already existed for a long time, it was not until the late 13th century that they were used to improve human vision. Vasco Ronchi, founder of the Italian National Institute of Optics, explains this delay by, among other things, a lack of knowledge of the theory of optics and a distrust of what was seen through instruments that could interfere with reality. What Ronchi is convinced of is that lenses were born in a ‘modest, uncultivated environment, against the advice of science’ and even their name (lenses, derived from the lentils they were shaped like) testifies to their popular origin.
Source: Il Colle di Galileo
DOI: 10.36253/cdg-15667
Authors: Elisabetta Baldanzi, Alessandro Farini
Institutions: National Institute of Optics, University of Florence
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4414997639
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