Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How did Mozi describe the projection of an inverted image through a pinhole?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
History of photography
Child with Striped Dress (Younger Raab Child), autochrome photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 1907; in the Art Institute of Chicago.
Around 400 BCE, the Chinese philosopher Mozi provided what is considered the earliest known account of the principle of projecting an image using light. He observed that when light rays from an illuminated object pass through a pinhole into a darkened room, they project an inverted image of that object onto the opposite wall.1
This fundamental observation established the scientific basis for the camera obscura, which serves as the ancestor to the modern photographic camera.12