Pre-1900

1590 — First compound microscope is developed.

1608 — First patent for a device with multiple lenses applied for

Hans Lippershey

Applied for the first patent on a device with multiple lenses, arranged in a tube, that refracted incoming light in a way that made distant objects look larger - the telescope

1610 — Using his telescope, Galileo reports several astronomical discoveries

Galileo

1621 — Snell's Law developed

Willebrord van Roijen Snell

1665 — Built compound microscopes with significantly better magnifications than had been achieved previously

Robert Hooke

1666 — Describes the splitting of white light into colors when it passes through a prism.

Isaac Newton

1713 — Creation of spin glass fibers

Rene de Reaumur

Makes spun glass fibers

1727 — Speed of light is deduced and measured

James Bradley

1800 — "Discovered" infrared in the spectrum

William Herschel

1841 — Demonstrates light guiding in jet of water

Daniel Colladon

1842 — Reports light guiding in water jets and bent glass rods

Jacques Babinet

1850 — Discovered that color photographs could be made using a combination of red, green & blue filters.

James Clerk Maxwell

1873 — Makes glass fibers that can be woven into cloth

Jules de Brunfaut

1878 — Determined the speed of light with great accuracy

A. A. Michelson

1879 — Develops the first electric lamp

Thomas Edison

1880 — Invention of a system of light pipes to illuminate homes.

William Wheeler

Invents a system of light pipes lined with a highly reflective coating that illuminated homes by using light from an electric arc lamp placed in the basement and directing the light around the home with the pipes.

1880 — Invention of the photophone

Alexander Graham Bell

The photophone transmitted a voice signal on a beam of light. Bell focused sunlight with a mirror and then talked into a mechanism that vibrated the mirror. At the receiving end, a detector picked up the vibrating beam and decoded it back into a voice the same way a phone did with electrical signals. Many things -- a cloudy day for instance -- could interfere with the Photophone, causing Bell to stop any further research with this invention

1881 — Michelson-Morely experiment proved that light does not require something to travel in

Albert A. Michelson & Edward Morley

1882 — Invention of the Michelson interferometer

Albert A. Michelson

Invented the Michelson interferometer, which was used in proving light does not require something to travel in

1887 — Development of a method to draw ultrafine fiber of quartz

Sir Charles Vernon Boys

Developed a method to draw utlrafine fibers of quartz and invented a type of balance using these fibers that rotates when a small force acts on it

1888 — Use bent glass rods to illuminate body cavities

Dr. Roth & Prof. Reuss of Vienna

1888 — Granted a patent for the handheld "Kodak" roll film camera

George Eastman

1891 — Measured the angular diameters of the satellites of Jupiter.

Albert A. Michelson

1891 — Lippmann process developed

Gabriel J. Lippmann

The Lippmann process: A revolutionary color-photography process that utilized the natural colors of light wavelengths instead of using dyes and pigments

1893 — Measured the standard meter in terms of a spectroscopic cadmium line

Albert A. Michelson

1895 — Coelostat invented

Gabriel J. Lippmann

Coelostat, a device with a rotating mirror that produces a stationary image of a the sky and stars

1895 — Designs a system of bent glass rods for guiding light in an early television scheme

Henry C. Saint-Rene

1895 — The first medical X-ray image is taken

1897 — Development the Fabry-Perot interferometer for spectral studies

Charles Fabry & Alfred Pérot

1898 — Bent glass rod used as a surgical lamp

David D. Smith