Let’s look at the Evolution of projectors. Projectors, in their most basic form, are optical devices that project an image onto a surface. This can be a single image or a series of photos, and the surface can vary from a projector screen to a simple white wall. The projector has a rich history that dates back to ancient times, one that we will now explore.

A Brief History of the Projector

The origins of projection can be traced back to the ingenious Chinese magic mirrors. Crafted from polished bronze and featuring a beautiful design on the back, these mirrors, dating back to 206 BC to 24 AD, project an image onto a screen when light is shone on the front. It’s a remarkable feat of ancient engineering.

Following the magic mirrors, shadow puppetry emerged in Asia as one of the oldest forms of puppetry, dating back to around 840. This captivating art form continued to enthral audiences across Indonesia, China, India, and numerous other countries, underscoring the enduring appeal of projection technology.

Based on the ancient Law of Optics, Camera Obscura dates back to the Chinese philosopher Mo-Ti in the 5th Century BC. It works on the basic principle that light travels in a straight line. When light rays pass through a small hole, such as those used in a camera obscura, they cross and reform, inverted and upside down, onto a surface parallel to the hole. Aristotle (384-322 BC fully understood the principles of the camera obscura, but it wasn’t until the time of the Islamic scholar and scientist Alhazen (c.965 – 1039) – around the same time as shadow play was sweeping across Asia – that the concept was thoroughly explored and included experiments with lanterns.

In 1490, the concept of the camera obscura was further developed as Leonardo Da Vinci, a pioneer in many fields, explored it in his notebooks. His large room designs, detailed in 1544 by scientist Reinerus Gemma Frisius for observing a solar eclipse, were a testament to his innovative spirit.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, we need to head back to 1420, where Giovanni Fontana depicted the first illustration of the Camera Obscura. In practice, this was where light (either from a lamp or a candle) shone through a vertical case on which images were drawn, and were therefore projected onto the surface held vertically in front of it.

We are now going to move forward 10 years to 1430, where concave mirrors were starting to be used. At this point, artists used concave mirrors or reflective lenses to project images onto canvas and boards as an aid.

Between 1500 and 1600, the projector underwent several developments. Based on one of his sketches from 1515, it is believed that Leonardo da Vinci had a projecting lantern with a condensing lens, a candle, and a chimney.

Similarly, in 1608, Cornelis Drebbel describes in a letter the ‘many marvellous transformations’ he performed using his new invention based on optics. Interestingly, this letter was found among the papers of Constantijn Huygens, the father of Christiaan. The reason this is interesting is that if we fast-forward around 50 years to 1659, Christiaan Huygens developed the magic lantern. This device used a lens to project an image forward onto a screen or wall, much like our modern projectors.

Next, however, we need to go back to 1612, when Christoph Scheiner furthered the work performed initially by Italian Mathematician Benedetto Castelli and his mentor, Galileo Galilei. Castelli and Galilei were working on projecting images through a telescope to study sunspots. Scheiner took this one step further and, during this time, was working on his Heliotropii Telioscopici, which later became, more simply, the Helioscope.

We now find ourselves in 1645, and this is where things start to get interesting as we see something more like the modern projector begin to emerge. Athanasius Kircher, a German Priest, used to project hand-painted images onto a screen using candles and oil lamps. This “Steganographic Mirror” was described in his book Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, which was well received at the time and is thought to have inspired Huygens in the creation of his magic lantern.

In 1756, this technology advanced when Leonhard Euler demonstrated his opaque projector—a device that projects by shining bright light from above. Mirrors, prisms or lenses within the device focus the image onto a screen. Euler’s opaque projector (or episcope, as it became more well-known) worked for opaque pictures and small objects. This was taken further first by Jacques Charles in 1780, who used his megascope in his lectures, and then again by Henry Morton in 1872, as he used a device based on the same technology to project huge images in the Philadelphia Opera House—a venue which could seat up to 3500 people.

As we move into the 19th Century, we see the development of the overhead projector. The French physicist, Edmund Becquerel, developed the first known adaptation of this device in 1853, and it was demonstrated by French instrument maker and inventor Jules Duboscq in 1866. The overhead projector continued to evolve and remained widely used until the 1980s and 1990s in schools and other institutions.

During this time, the technology developed with the invention of the magic lantern continued to evolve into slide projectors, which became hugely popular during the 1950s, not only in the education sector but also for use at home to share holiday pictures.

This brings us up to the 20th Century, when in 1996 the first SVGA projector using DLP technology was launched. This produced digital images of a quality and brightness never seen before. It included built-in audio and colour technology, giving a new level of accuracy.

Soon, many more models were introduced to the market, and by the time we entered the 21st Century, a wide range of film, video, and digital projectors could be found on the market, some of which are included in our own range for home cinema, education, and business purposes.