Is the Nimrud Lens a 3,000 Year Old Telescope?
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.
But experts on Assyrian archaeology are unconvinced.
They say that the lens is of such low quality that it would
have been a poor aid to vision.
It is called the Nimrud lens and it was found in 1850 by
the legendary archaeologist Sir John Layard, during an
epic series of excavations at the palace of Nimrud in
what is now Iraq.
Upon his return to England,
he showed the lens to
physicist Sir David Brewer
who thought it could have
been used as a magnifying
glass or to concentrate the
Sun's rays.
Used as a magnifying glass,
it could have been useful to
Assyrian craftsman who
often made intricate seals
and produced minuscule
texts on clay tablets using a
wedge-shaped script.
It is a theory many scientists might be prepared to
accept, but the idea that the rock crystal was part of a
telescope is something else. To get from a lens to a
telescope, they say, is an enormous leap.
Professor Pettinato counters by asking for an
explanation of how the ancient Assyrians regarded the
planet Saturn as a god surrounded by a ring of serpents?
Could they not have seen Saturn's rings through their
telescope and interpreted them as serpents? An
unconvincing argument, say experts. The Assyrians saw
serpents everywhere. And why is it in their many
astronomical reports on clay tablets there is no mention
of such a device?
The conventional understanding of the invention of the
telescope is that it was developed in the 16th century by
Dutch spectacle-makers who held one lens in front of
another.
One thing is sure: Galileo did not invent it - a common
misconception - although he was one of the first to turn it
towards the sky. By then, lenses used as spectacles
had been known for hundreds of years at least, and it
has been a puzzle to historians why it took so long for
the telescope to be invented.
It may have been developed and then forgotten, or even
kept secret. However, experts regard this as unlikely
given the commercial and military uses that a telescope
could serve.
Whatever its origin, as
ornament, as magnifying lens
or part of a telescope, the
Nimrud lens is the oldest
lens in the world. Looking at
it evokes mystery and
wonder. It can be seen in
room 55 of the British
Museum, in case 9 of the
Lower Mesopotamian Gallery
It may not be unique.
Another, possibly 5th century
BC, lens was found in a
sacred cave on Mount Ida on
Crete. It was more powerful and of far better quality than
the Nimrud lens.
Also, Roman writers Pliny and Seneca refer to a lens
used by an engraver in Pompeii. So perhaps the
ancients knew more about lenses than we give them
credit for.
ORBITALS!
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