Lens Making in the 1600s

[@postyoda]

This was a brilliant video, great editing, no stupid background music, etc. Nicely done.

[@piorunekk]

That is one of the best videos I saw ever! Recreation and creation of these was fantastic way to learn the answer to "how people became so good at things?"

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Thanks for watching!

[@piorunekk]

@@corningmuseumofglass Please continue, I learned so much from it.

[@kadampavan]

Thanks for sharing. I was planning to post the video explaining the same but i wasn't confidant.I was searching this methods for years. I tried your methods before your video. Grinding produces good lenses. I used slightly bigger glass piece then stuck it to a round metal bar with shellac. then rod held in drill gun chuck. made the piece round the exact size of metal (steel) rod.then removed rod from chuck. then other steel rod dimpled by using a ball bearing ball. then by using various powders i ground it. and polished it by using fine diamond paste and wood stick the diameter i made was 5 mm. It produced good lens.

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Thanks for watching!

[@WillN2Go1]

Thank you. You answered my question, and then you answered questions I wouldn't have know to ask.

[@corningmuseumofglass]

You're welcome, thanks for watching!

[@mohamednabeel3222]

Who made the first lenses in history?

[@pranavlonaree6732]

@@mohamednabeel3222 Ask the same question to google he will definitely answer you

[@rickmull1883]

@@pranavlonaree6732 google is non binary

[@Senaihh]

Instead of thinking about worldly pleasures some choose to do these stuff. Helped us to be as sophisticated and advanced as we are now.

[@clintgolub1751]

These were the ‘worldly pleasures’ they sought haha Even if they were cerebral and oftentimes just abstract philosophical thought, their desire was curiosity, and a mind capable of wrestling with the big questions.

[@jamesraymond1158]

Thank you, Corning. You're a great company.

[@Worldtraveler1984]

Fascinating, an invention like this seems way before it’s time.

[@BoostedTypist]

I used to go to the Corning museum of glass, i got a custom bowl there when i was 4 or 5

[@mohammadhoseinebrahimi]

1:24 how the curvature of the mold was made good enough for a lens?

[@johnnuaxon3]

Magic

[@justinbunkley5052]

So if i understand correctly, if i want to make my own lenses, and I’m not doing a production lot, i can easily make a jig and hand grind it to eventually create a spectacular magnification lens to any level of magnification i desire based on the concavity (depth) of my jig. I can make my own telescope, or crossbow scope, or microscope, or camera, or glasses, or solar concentrator, or anything with a lens. I love it, thank you! I own a large collection of Leitz, Leica lenses made from rare earth glass. It will be interesting to see how what i can make compares to one of the masters of this field. Obviously, Corning deserves kudos for their contributions to this field as well. Thanks again!

[@theterribleanimator1793]

just keep in mind, grinding lenses takes a long time to do even with motorized equipment and it will take you possibly years to make good enought lenses to see the microscopic or macroscopic worlds that conventional and comercial microscopes and telescopes can.

[@theterribleanimator1793]

not to dessiade you though, you did see just how little equipment it takes to get started, i spend my time watching movies and grindind and mahining my own little devices. Grandma loves to see what i come up with.

[@intensecutn]

​@@theterribleanimator1793you don't have to do any grinding to see the microcosmos. It can be seen with a 'drop' of glass. Sure, it won't be the same clarity or magnification as modern microscopes, but you can for sure see Ciliates, Rotifers and the like.

[@theterribleanimator1793]

@@intensecutn well yea, you could also just buy a microscope. The point is, to get a good visual on the microcosmos without paying directly for the machine or just the lenses then you have to grind them yourself, and to learn to do just that will take you years of practice and learning. You could also make them out of plastic, just buying some premade molds of concaves and convexes with common radii you could make a columation that serves to see a few microns without the grinding.

[@realdragon]

I think you gonna need bigger piece of glass than that

[@rogerb5615]

Superb video! This weekend's project will be an attempt to make the glass tube lens.

[@garunkumare7778]

Great video !! Was very informative, interesting and helpful !!

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Thanks for watching!

[@edvard-swift3645]

Thank you so much I've always wondered how the first microscope was created and I'm glad I found your video

[@GalaXy808]

BRILLIANT MAN..SUPER CREATIVE..ANTONY VAN LEEUWEENHOEK,I FOUND THIS VIDEO BEC.VSAUCE..NEED MILLIONS OF VIEWS..

[@TechsScience]

Why only this few views it deserves Millions

[@lotuslogic]

It doesn't belong that way. we have to understand, this video will approach with a million life not view of million.

[@simonlinser8286]

Not everybody's cup of tea

[@koksalceylan9032]

Because it dont show butts,nipples😂

[@YasharFrank]

A glass ball with a flat on one side makes an even better, high resolution magnifying glass.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

This is very neat, the last type of lens, I have seen it built into the glass envelopes of miniature incandescent torch lightbulbs, to focus the light from the filament into a beam.

[@AtlasReburdened]

That's interesting. I had never considered the form of the enclosure on those little bulbs to be an integral lens.

[@RealHogweed]

extremely interesting, thanks

[@corningmuseumofglass]

+RealHogweed Thanks for watching!

[@francescofragomeni]

Incredible video. Do you currently have anyone experienced in recreating early optics like those shown in the video, as well as methods in use through the 18th and 19th centuries? Thank you.

[@Ivan_Constantine_Lysenko]

I'm going to have to try and make some of these.

[@yoyobros99]

Did u ever make em?!

[@AlbertKirilov]

Maybe a silly question but... What machine is used to make magnifying glasses, and where can I find such a job? What’s the name of the job role?

[@gary851]

WOW. Thank You and thank you algorithm.

[@CheeseCakes11944]

how do you remove the lens from the wooden stick and resin? after polishing

[@jakematheson2396]

what is he using for the heat sorce what is making it hot enought to melt glass so well

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Hi Jake, he's using 91% pure isopropyl alcohol and I am using the bellows to accelerate and focus the heat. Thanks for watching!

[@abdulhakimlukwago88]

What's the source of the flame

[@anilshirsat4406]

Thanks for sharing the most ancient microscope 🔬 of Antony Luenhok

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Thanks for watching!

[@anilshirsat4406]

@@corningmuseumofglass Thanks for your kind concern 😊 Being the post-graduate of Biochemistry I came across the great scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, and got impressed with his great contribution in Microbiology with such primitive but precision microscope 🔬

[@Splarkszter]

Good video. Wish all of this channel where at least something like this. I won't be viewing 1hour irrelevant videos. So i won't subscribe and forget this channel in about 2-3 hours

[@TheSquidPro]

Dr. Stone sent me.

[@dasarinaresh3809]

Thanks

[@clintgolub1751]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t von Leeuwenhoek’s bequeathed microscope collection to the London Royal Society have the now mysteriously lost ‘glass blown’ lenses with it?

[@hili467]

For the blown glass lens, could the tube be filled with a liquid with the same refractive index to create a sort of fiber optic magnifier, the small end being used to examine a sample and the wider portion magnifying the view for the viewer?

[@hili467]

Could probably pull this off with sugar water and a small glass bead to seal the small end of the tube

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Despite being started from a hollow tube, the actual lens that is produced through this process is solid, with no cavity in it. Magnifying devices with liquids are possible, and have been made for many years. However, they are made through a very different handling of the material from the blown lens described in Houk’s writings. Thanks for watching!

[@hili467]

@@corningmuseumofglass the tube and bubble the lens is built on are hollow, no? I’m not talking about filling the lens (why would the lens be hollow?) I’m talking about filling tube the lens is suspended on: “... could the tube be filled...” it’s basically a glass straw with a closed bottom, right? That means you can fill the glass straw with a liquid. If the refractive index of the glass and the liquid are the same, you should end up with the equivalent of a fat fiber optic with a lens at one end.

[@user-jy3zl2vp4b]

@@corningmuseumofglass I loved your video....but now I am wondering how they made the hollow tubes so that you could make the bubbles. How could they make those hollow tubes make then?!? I am so curious!

[@simonlinser8286]

No unless the walls were mirrored but that's not really what fiber optic does is it? Can you see stuff through fiber optic? Wow probably huh

[@HelovesU-we4qh]

Soooooooooooooo cool!!!😁🥳

[@Muonium1]

I often imagine what these men would say and think if I could transport them to the present to show the modern capability of miracles like superresolution imaging, electron and atomic force microscopy a million times more powerful than anything he could have dreamed of. The ability to see individual atoms. Then I think of what will be possible in another 300 years.

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Thanks for watching!

[@magniformicalaboris]

Thank you. What is the liquid used at 1:30?

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Ryan - the water is used as a lubricant between the glass and abrasive. One could use a light oil or other thin liquid as well. Water is easy to clean up and manage. As a lubricant, it helps the abrasive grain slide over the glass and removes stress from the process interface, to the abrasive doesn't prematurely break down.

[@onezaproductions]

sources?

[@IsaacTwumasi-Ankrah]

That's great

[@shahdjameel8179]

Nice 👍

[@kollasrinivas5785]

hi I saw your video and tried to do the second process of grinding and polishing. after grinding I also got curve of the lens but it surface became blur. I can't understand how to polish it. please give me answer in the form of reply.

[@corningmuseumofglass]

To polish a lense of any size, you must first grind it to a near polished finish, which means going to 800 or 1200 grit of grinding, then switch to a polishing compound (commonly using cerium and or tin oxides) on hard felt to regain the glossy surface. You can look at online tutorials about the general process of polishing glass and it will apply to this situation.

[@kollavasu9492]

what does it mean 'going to 800 to 1200 grit of grinding?

[@corningmuseumofglass]

What I meant was that you have to continue to grind and re-grind with finer and finer grits to remove the previous scratches and prepare the surface for eventual polishing. Depending on the glass you are using, you will need to grind the surface very fine (either a 800 grit or 1200 grit) and then pumice and cerium to bring to a complete polish. If you stop grinding too soon, the pumice and cerium process will not adequately make the glass glossy and transparent.

[@kollasrinivas5785]

how can we know that lens is grinded upto '800 to 1200' grit

[@kadampavan]

Srinivas Kolla the abressive powders are available in market of grit size 800 ,1200 etc. 800 is rough and 1200 is fine. You can bring powders from opticians. Very fine diamond pastes are also available. You can use valve grinding pastes too

[@aidynapruebo1225]

Why is it upside down?

[@realdragon]

No wonder the tiny lenses didn't survive, nobody could find them

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Cool, I'd love to create my telescopes and microscopes- if they can do it in the medieval ages, I and we can do it to, especially today in the 21st century, we hope, fast & pray. God bless.

[@jyotihonhaga6431]

Nice video🥰

[@corningmuseumofglass]

Thanks for watching!

[@СкрытоеИмя-в9ш]

что это за горелка такая?что за топливо?

[@aisharakshana4481]

How to.use.iy

[@gaylecheung3087]

To short, more please 😢

[@shizyninjarocks]

He was the cyberpunk of his time.

[@yodamaster202]

Cool bro

[@reconnaissance7372]

How the hell did Leeuwenhoek see Molecules with that little bead of glass lol.

[@flex3580]

NICE

[@lajoswinkler]

The only way he could see truly microscopic objects was with glass beads. All other things were too weak.

[@filipemecenas]

Oooooooo my sweet silica gods

[@shiftednrifted]

Could someone use these techniques today to make like a pancake lens an inch and a half wide

[@arthurbriand2175]

Who else is here to see how Spinoza was making a living?

[@AbdolazimHasseli]

Nearly 1000 years before this person, Alhazen did the same experiments.

[@WatanMohamadAbuyunis]

spinoza brought me here

[@zakarininja162]

Imong Mama Lens Making

[@IOANCHRIST-GODSTEF]

Lovely, 1.1.2026 End Of Days By Asteroid Wall Incomming From North, Visible With Naked Eye At The End Of 2025, Maybe I Get To Make Myself A Telescope 🔭!

[@charlieangkor8649]

I thought they simply sent Marco Polo to China to buy some cheap chinese onea.

[@chugnhah8372]

aung cough san

[@abdulhakimlukwago88]

What's the source of the flame