Mirror: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026

News •

Air holes turn silicon wafers into flat ultraviolet focusing mirrors for compact optics • Nov. 6, 2026, 5:00 PM ET (Phys.org)

Facts

Also Known As	reflector

Photos and Videos

Gothic mirror, detail from The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami by Jan van Eyck, 1434; in the National Gallery, London.

Colonial American Queen Anne furniture (Left to right) Maple and pine mirror, probably from Boston, 1720–45, above a tulip and maple tea table, Middle Colonies, 1730–40; japanned pine and maple high chest by John Pimm of Boston, 1740–50; and a walnut splat-back Queen Anne armchair; in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Delaware.

Diagram showing two kaleidoscopes, each with mirrors set at different angles-90 degrees in A and 60 degrees in B-demonstrating how the angle of the mirrors creates multiple reflected images of a coin inside the toy.

elliptic mirror

Diagram showing light from a bee reflecting off a vertical plane mirror into an observer's eye; equal angles of incidence and reflection produce a virtual bee image behind the mirror.

How lenses and mirrors affect light and vision

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Topics

dichroic mirror How do mirrors work?heliotrope silvering reflection optical system lens diffraction grating filter prism collimator microscope aberration Binoculars eyeglasses refraction

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Key People

Amici, Giovanni Battista

Giovanni Battista Amici

Italian astronomer

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James Short

British optician and astronomer