How Ibn al-Haytham’s Prison Cell Sparked the Birth of the Camera

Over 1,000 years ago, an Arab scientist changed how we see the world. While imprisoned in Egypt, Ibn al-Haytham discovered how light passes through a small hole to project an inverted image inside a dark room. This became known as the camera obscura, the earliest form of a camera.

After his release, Ibn al-Haytham built models of his cell, recorded his findings in his groundbreaking Book of Optics, and laid the foundation for centuries of innovation in vision, light, and photography. His work influenced everything from pinhole cameras to the lenses in your phone today.