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Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

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41–50 of 219 posts

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#42

> 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!” > 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.…

This raises the perennial question of whether product placement is a legitimate source of funding for fundamental scientific research.

After placing an ice-cube in my delicious glass of refreshing coca-cola brand carbonated beverage, I yelled Eureka! and jumped out of the bath.

Is that really how it happened? Is it not inconsistent with the pursuit of truth?

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#43
post #20

Hopefully this will increase the sweet spot in the VR headsets.

VR headset lens already require software chromatic abberration correction -- I'm curious what constraints if any would limit the application of this new result for VR spherical aberrations. Would love some thoughts from an optics expert on this. I also wonder if this new knowledge could contribute to a software corrector.

Hopefully it leads to software-based spherical aberration correction too, which may mean better perceived quality with the same lenses, or even thinner/cheaper lenses over time.

Or maybe they'll find a way to apply it to make better lenses that need less software-based corrections. They struggle a lot not just with clarity at the edges but god rays and glare too.

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#44
post #43
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VR headset lens already require software chromatic abberration correction -- I'm curious what constraints if any would limit the application of this new result for VR spherical aberrations. Would love some thoughts from an optics expert on this. I also wonder if this new knowledge could contribute to a software corrector.

Hopefully it leads to software-based spherical aberration correction too, which may mean better perceived quality with the same lenses, or even thinner/cheaper lenses over time. Or maybe they'll find a way to apply it to make better lenses that need less software-based corrections. They struggle a lot not just with clarity at the edges but god rays and glare too.

Not an optical expert, just also interested in optics for VR/AR :)

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#45
To clarify: the innovation isn't that they design better lenses. It's that given the first surface of a lens, they have an analytical formula for the lens's second surface so that the lens doesn't exhibit spherical aberration. Traditionally, numerical methods are used to compute this second surface instead of an analytical formula. Also, as a practical matter, designers often use several spherical lenses instead of a few aspherics because the latter are harder to manufacture/more expensive.

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#46

I’m questioning my sense of humor because everyone here seemed to have enjoyed the tone of the article, while I was quite put off by it.

It's a good article if you enjoy jokes and references about photographers and how they behave. It's not a good article if you want a minimum of fluff and just want to understand what the discovery is and why it might be significant.

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#48

> 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!” > 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.…

Reminds me of that story about Archimedes.

For anyone unfamiliar: supposedly, while bathing; he suddenly realized the principals of buoyancy. He then jumped out of the bath and ran down the street -- without clothes -- yelling "Eureka!" (I have found it). Not sure if this is true or just a legend, but I doubt we'll ever find out what happened to that Nutella bread either...

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#49
post #33
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gave me shivers reading it. Beautiful example of the incredible mystery of the human mind. Poof! And the solution materialized. Of course, all the groundwork had been laid. All the neurons primed. Just incredible. And that formula. Damn.

That was my thought. Why is it so damn complex? You’d think the solution would be simpler.

Sometimes complicated things are complicated.

Re: Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem

#50

I’m questioning my sense of humor because everyone here seemed to have enjoyed the tone of the article, while I was quite put off by it.

It's a good article if you enjoy jokes and references about photographers and how they behave. It's not a good article if you want a minimum of fluff and just want to understand what the discovery is and why it might be significant.

I usually enjoy jokes intermingled with info, those didn’t hit the right note for me, for some reason.
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