On May 2nd, 1601 (or 1602), German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher was born. He has published most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine, and has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests. He is regarded as one of the founders of Egyptology for his (mostly fruitless) efforts in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, wrote an encyclopedia about China, studied volcanos and fossils, was one of the very first to observe microbes thorough a microscope, and experimented with the laterna magica as a predecessor of photography.
On June 26, 1730, French astronomer Charles Messier was born. He is best known for his publication of an astronomical catalogue consisting of nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 "Messier objects". The purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers, in particular comet hunters such as himself, distinguish between permanent and transient visually diffuse objects in the sky.
On March 25, 1655, Saturn's largest moon Titan was discovered by astronomer and physicist Christiaan Huygens. Titan is considered as the most Earth-like moon discovered so far and the second largest in the solar system.
On January 23, 1840, German physicist, optometrist, entrepreneur, and social reformer Ernst Abbe was born. Together with Otto Schott and Carl Zeiss, he laid the foundation of modern optics. As a co-owner of Carl Zeiss AG, a German manufacturer of research microscopes, astronomical telescopes, planetariums and other optical systems, Abbe developed numerous optical instruments.
On January 23, 1840, German physicist, optometrist, entrepreneur, and social reformer Ernst Abbe was born. Together with Otto Schott and Carl Zeiss, he laid the foundation of modern optics. As a co-owner of Carl Zeiss AG, a German manufacturer of research microscopes, astronomical telescopes, planetariums and other optical systems, Abbe developed numerous optical instruments.
On March 3, 1931, German physicist Ernst Ruska together with his doctoral advisor Max Knoll presented the very first prototype electron microscope, capable of four-hundred-power magnification; the apparatus was the first demonstration of the principles of electron microscopy.
We investigate the interaction of intense light with matter: extreme conditions within a medium lead to the generation of remarkable bursts of rainbow light. Intense light can also induce an effective flow in the medium that can be used to create artificial event horizons and study spacetime geometries inspired by general relativity. Answering these questions leads to discoveries at the overlap between laser physics, quantum field theory, general relativity and photonic technologies.
First germanium laser New results from MIT’s Electronic Materials Research Group bring us closer to computers that use light instead of electricity to move data.
Mathematician Andrew Hicks, at Drexel University, Philadelphia, used computer algorithms to generate the mirror's bizarre surface, which curves and bends in different directions.
On October 2, 1608, German-Dutch lensmaker Hans Lippershey applied to the States-General of the Netherlands for a patent for his instrument "for seeing things far away as if they were nearby".
On October 2, 1608, German-Dutch lensmaker Hans Lippershey applied to the States-General of the Netherlands on October 2, 1608, for a patent for his instrument "for seeing things far away as if they were nearby".
GLAS (the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System) is the first laser-ranging (lidar) instrument for continuous global observations of Earth, which will make unique atmospheric observations as an important component of the ESE climate change program. GLAS is a facility instrument designed to measure ice-sheet topography and associated temporal changes, cloud and atmospheric properties.and give us information on the height and thickness of radiatively important cloud layers which is needed for accurate short term climate and weather prediction. In addition, operation of GLAS over land and water will provide along-track topography.
A. Bogoni, W. Xiaoxia, I. Fazal, and A. Willner. Optical Fiber Communication - incudes post deadline papers, 2009.
OFC 2009. Conference on, page 1-3--. (2009)
G. Berrettini, G. Meloni, P. Ghelfi, A. Bogoni, and L. Poti. Optical Fiber Communication Conference, 2006 and the 2006 National
Fiber Optic Engineers Conference. OFC 2006, page 3 pp.--. (2006)