Spherical Abberation Problem Solved - After 2000 Years

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Alan B
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Spherical Abberation Problem Solved - After 2000 Years

Post by Alan B » Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:58 am

Spherical Abberation
Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem
Image
The Problem
You see, lenses are made from spherical surfaces. The problem arises when light rays outside the center of the lens or hitting at an angle can’t be focused at the desired distance in a point because of differences in refraction.
Which makes the center of the image sharper than the corners. Which leads to countless YouTube reviews on lenses. And countless hours of watch time. And makes advertisers and YouTubers happy.
In his 1690 book, Treatise on Light, astronomer Christiaan Huygens points out that both Isaac Newton (the greatest scientist of all time) and Gottfried Leibniz (the last universal genius) tried to solve the problem, but couldn’t:

As has in fact occurred to two prominent Geometricians, Messieurs Newton and Leibnitz, with respect to the problem of the figure of glasses for collecting rays when one of the surfaces is given.
It is appropriate to mention that Newton invented a telescope that solved the chromatic aberration, but not the spherical aberration.
...snip...
The Solution
Fast forward to 2018 when Héctor A. Chaparro-Romo, a doctoral student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), who had been trying to solve this problem for 3 years, invited Rafael G. González-Acuña, a doctoral student from Tec de Monterrey, to help him solve the problem.
At first, González did not want to devote resources to what he knew to be a millenary, impossible to solve problem. But upon the insistence of Héctor Chaparro, he decided to accept the challenge.
After months of working on solving the problem, Rafael González recalls, “I remember one morning I was making myself a slice of bread with Nutella, when suddenly, I said out loud: Mothers! It is there!”
(Note: “Madres” is a Spanish word that means, of course, many moms. But in this context it is equivalent to the expression “Holy sh*t!” in English, or, to a lesser extent, “Eureka!” in Greek.)
He then ran to his computer and started programming the idea. When he executed the solution and saw that it worked, he says he jumped all over the place. It is unclear whether he finished eating the Nutella bread.
Afterwards, the duo ran a simulation and calculated the efficacy with 500 rays, and the resulting average satisfaction for all examples was 99.9999999999%. Which, of course, is great news for gear reviewers on YouTube, as they will still be able to argue about the 0.0000000001% of sharpness difference among lens brands.
I'll be placing an order for new camera lenses soon (and a new astro telescope)...
This could also mean a marked improvement for spectacle wearers!
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power - Eric Hoffer.
I have NO BELIEF in the existence of a God or gods. I do not have to offer proof nor do I have to determine absence of proof because I do not ASSERT that a God does or does not or gods do or do not exist.

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Brian Peacock
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Re: Spherical Abberation Problem Solved - After 2000 Years

Post by Brian Peacock » Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:25 pm

What we can take from this fascinating discovery is that Nutella aids science. FACT!
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JimC
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Re: Spherical Abberation Problem Solved - After 2000 Years

Post by JimC » Tue Jul 09, 2019 10:22 pm

I find that I often have a Eureka moment after my third G & T...
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!

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Tero
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Re: Spherical Abberation Problem Solved - After 2000 Years

Post by Tero » Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:13 pm

Spherical Abberration would be a good name for a progressive rock group.
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com
http://esabirdsne.blogspot.com/
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Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

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Turn stone to bread right away...

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Re: Spherical Abberation Problem Solved - After 2000 Years

Post by NineBerry » Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:23 pm

But those people are Mexicans

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