The Nimrud lens is a 3000 year old piece of rock crystal, which was unearthed by Austen Henry Layard at the Assyrian palace of Nimrud, in modern-day Iraq.[1] It may have been used as a magnifying glass, or as a burning-glass to start fires by concentrating sunlight. Assyrian craftsmen made intricate engravings, and could have used such a lens in their work.[1]
Italian scientist Giovanni Pettinato of the University of Rome has proposed that the lens was used by the ancient Assyrians as part of a telescope, and that this explains their knowledge of astronomy (see Babylonian astronomy).[1] Experts on Assyrian archaeology are unconvinced, doubting that the optical quality of the lens is sufficient to be of much use. The ancient Assyrians saw the planet Saturn as a god surrounded by a ring of serpents, which Pettinato suggests was their interpretation of Saturn's rings as seen through a telescope.[2] Other experts say that serpents occur frequently in Assyrian mythology, and note that there is no mention of a telescope in any of the many surviving Assyrian astronomical writings.[1]
The Nimrud lens is on display in the British Museum.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Whitehouse, David (1999-07-01). "World's oldest telescope?". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/380186.stm. Retrieved 2008-05-10. "If one Italian scientist is correct then the telescope was not invented sometime in the 16th century by Dutch spectacle makers, but by ancient Assyrian astronomers nearly three thousand years earlier. According to Professor Giovanni Pettinato of the University of Rome, a rock crystal lens, currently on show in the British museum, could rewrite the history of science. He believes that it could explain why the ancient Assyrians knew so much about astronomy."
- ^ "World's oldest telescope?". EXN Science Wire. 1999-06-29. http://www.exn.ca/Stories/1999/06/29/63.asp. Retrieved 2008-05-10. "Pettinato believes the lens was used by Assyrian astronomers as a telescope more than three thousand years ago. They saw more in the night sky than was possible with the naked eye alone. For example, the Assyrians saw the planet Saturn as a god surrounded by a ring of serpents. Pettinato says that would be a logical assumption to make if they saw Saturn's rings through a primitive telescope."
External links
- Oldest Optical Device? The Nimrud Lens
- D. Brewster (1852). "On an account of a rock-crystal lens and decomposed glass found in Niniveh" (in German). Die Fortschritte der Physik (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft). http://books.google.com/books?id=bHwEAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA355&dq=niniveh+lens&as_brr=3&ei=ILaBR-mHEoGmswP6jqHDCw.
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