Vox - The invention that fixed lighthouses, 17022021

The most important part of a lighthouse: the Fresnel lens, a breakthrough that changed seafaring and saved lives. As the below video shows, these lenses satisfied a need for lighthouses that could shine farther and through dense layers of fog. The Fresnel lens, invented by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, helped do that by capturing all the light coming from a lamp, and then magnifying and directing it in one direction. Suddenly, lighthouses became more useful and shipwrecks diminished.