Just like destroying an ant colony with a magnifying glass, there’s nothing like cooking hot dogs and roasting marshmallows with a nice parabolic reflector. Of course covering an old satellite dish ...

If you are a Hackaday reader, you probably know what a Fresnel lens is. You find them in everything from overhead projectors to VR headsets. While it seems commonplace now, the Fresnel lens was an ...

The world of lighting hardware can be confusing waters to navigate. There are so many different options, so many different types of fixtures, quality of light and methods of creating light; how do you ...

There was some politics involved. The group of spotlights that we identify as "fresnel" derives their name from an early 19th-century scientist, Augustin-Jean Fresnel. As a result of his invention of ...

The most important thing to know about Fresnel lenses, before casually attempting to drop them into conversation, has to do with phonetics: "Fresnel" is pronounced "Fruh-NEL." If the silent "S" makes ...

The popular French lens design was originally created for lighthouses The popular French lens design was originally created for lighthouses is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who ...

In the 1820s, Augustin Fresnel invented a new kind of lens and installed it in France’s Cordouan lighthouse. Suddenly, one lamp could light the way for sailors many miles out to sea. “Were I a Roman ...

You may know them best for their original use in lighthouses, where they're famously recognised as "the invention that saved a million ships". Or perhaps you initially think of their employment in ...

Nearly two years ago, Wearality created a unique Fresnel lens for VR headsets offering a claimed 150 degree field of view. The company successfully funded a VR viewer featuring the lens called ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. In the early nineteenth century, ...