In his workshop in Padua, Italy, he discovered that plano-convex and plano-concave lenses worked best—that is, lenses with a plane on one side and curved surfaces on the other. Then, drawing on ...

A lens is a specially shaped pieces of glass or transparent plastic, that is used to focus light. A convex lens is made from a transparent material that bulges outwards in the middle on both sides.

Evidence suggests ancient civilizations, including the Greeks, may have had early optical knowledge and devices like ...