ILLUMINATION: Navigation by Light

Presentation by Faride Khalaf

From the earliest travelers to the first man on the moon, we humans depend on light for safety and comfort.  Sailors and pilots use light in intricate ways to navigate and communicate with each other, and those far away .

Join us on a journey of discovery and learn of a 17th century French, civil engineer and physicist who revolutionized lighthouses everywhere for all time.  He advance the science of physical and geometric optics to enable an oil lamp to cast light  to the very edge of the horizon to guide the weary sailor.  Naval aviators rely heavily on this invention to land their F 35’s on carriers in all weather day and night.  The Fresnel lens is everywhere you look.  A fine example of its use stands tall in our gallery as the rotating beacon from San Francisco Airport; it is of the type currently in service in nearly every airport to bring the weary pilot home for a safe landing .