Johann Zahn (29 March 1641, Karlstadt am Main – 27 June 1707) was the seventeenth-century

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

author of ''Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus Sive Telescopium'' (

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

, 1685). This work contains many descriptions and diagrams, illustrations and sketches of both the

camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a aperture, small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) ...

and

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...

, along with various other lanterns, slides,

projection Projection or projections may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphics, and carto ...

types, peepshow boxes, microscopes, telescopes, reflectors, and lenses. As a student of

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

, Zahn is considered the most prolific writer and illustrator of the camera obscura. Zahn was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

of the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

monastery of Oberzell near Würzburg (see Kloster Oberzell). The first

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

that was small and portable enough to be practical for

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

(that is, actually capturing the image on some sort of medium) was envisioned by Zahn in 1685, though it would be almost 150 years before technology caught up to the point where this was possible to actually build (see

History of the camera The history of the camera began even before the introduction of photography. Cameras evolved from the ''camera obscura'' through many generations of photographic technologydaguerreotypes, calotypes, dry plates, photographic film, filmto the mo ...

). In ''Oculus Artificialis'', Zahn's comprehensive description of the magic lantern (along with twelve other different lanterns) includes some of these lanterns showing for the first time

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

covers. This was a very important evolution in the history of the camera, because it meant that the screen could be kept dark while the operator changed the slide. Zahn used the magic lantern, whose invention he credited to

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...

, for

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

lectures. He also illustrated a large workshop camera obscura for solar observations using the

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

and scioptric ball. Zahn also includes an illustration of a camera obscura in the shape of a

goblet A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

, based on a design described (but not illustrated) by

Pierre Hérigone Pierre Hérigone (Latinized as Petrus Herigonius) (1580–1643) was a French mathematician and astronomer. Of Basque origin, Hérigone taught in Paris for most of his life. Works Only one work by Hérigone is known to exist: ''Cursus mathematicu ...

. Zahn also designed several portable camera obscuras, and made one that was 23 inches long. He demonstrated the use of mirrors and lenses to erect the image, enlarge and focus it. Zahn is also the author of a compendium of mathematics and natural history, titled ''Specula Physico-Mathematico-Historica Notabilium ac Mirabilium Sciendorum'' (3025) Religions-Hindu

Works

* * * * * *

References

* Ralf Kern: Wissenschaftliche Instrumente in Ihrer Zeit/Streben nach Genauigkeit in Zeit und Raum. Cologne, 2010 * Wolfgang Grassl: Culture of Place. An Intellectual Profile of the Premonstratensian Order. Nordhausen: Bautz, 2012, 325-331

Sources

*Burns, Pau
The History of the Discovery of Cinematography
An Illustrated Chronology

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060318004805/http://www.historyofcuba.com/jas/Articles/prehist.htm Pre-history of Photography (See p. 107.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zahn, Johann 1641 births 1707 deaths People from Karlstadt am Main 17th-century German scientists 17th-century German inventors Precursors of photography Premonstratensians 17th-century German philosophers 18th-century German philosophers German non-fiction writers Scientists from Bavaria German male non-fiction writers