Chinese philosopher Mozi described the pinhole-camera principle in the 5th century BCE, explaining that light passing through a pinhole into a dark room projects an inverted image onto the opposite wall.
Notes on verification
Multiple independent sources (Wikipedia, EBSCO, My Modern Met, academic and patent literature) corroborate that Mozi described the pinhole/camera obscura inversion principle around the 5th century BCE, with only minor dating variation. [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- History of photography | History, Inventions, Artists, & Facts - Britannica (seed:geography_and_travel)
- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/arts-and-entertainment/camera-obscura (corroboration)
- https://mymodernmet.com/camera-obscura/ (corroboration)