Ignazio Porro (25 November 1801 – 8 October 1875) was an Italian inventor of

optical instruments An optical instrument is a device that processes light waves (or photons), either to enhance an image for viewing or to analyze and determine their characteristic properties. Common examples include periscopes, microscopes, telescopes, and cameras ...

. Porro's name is most closely associated with the prism system which he invented around 1850 and which is used in the construction of

Porro prism In optics, a Porro prism, named for its inventor Ignazio Porro, is a type of ''reflection prism'' used in optical instruments to alter the orientation of an image. Description It consists of a block of material shaped like a right geometric ...

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

. He also developed a strip camera in 1853 for mapping, which was one of the earliest such.How strip-photography complicated the interpretation of the still photographic image
", Maarten Vanvolsem

References

Works

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External links

at the FSU Molecular Expressions website
Information about Porro at the Carl Zeiss website
1801 births 1875 deaths 19th-century Italian inventors Lens designers Optical engineers Italian topographers 19th-century Italian cartographers {{Italy-engineer-stub