Nailing down the innovation of the mirror to a single culture or person is very difficult given that the definition of a ‘mirror’ is relative. This invention has however been so ingrained in the present society that people rarely stop to ask themselves of its origins. It is uncertain on who invented the mirror in the first place. However, the first mirrors can be traced in to Anatolia around 6000 BC and it was made using obsidian stone that was highly polished. The Chinese started making bronze mirrors in 2000 BC AND then they diffused in Greece, Rome and Egypt. The first layer and glass mirrors came about during the reign of the Roman Empire; could be in Sido (Lebanon) at the start of the 1st century AD. Related findings were obtained in China and \south America.
Arab physicist; Ibn Al Haytham and Ibn Sahl are the ones who studied and then came up with the very first mirrors with optical effect in the tenth / eleventh century. Later in the sixteenth century a mercury-tin alloy layer upon glass mirrors was invented in Venice. Industrialization of production was started by Saint Gobain; a French company. The first modern mirror with silvered glass came about in 1835 and it was a creation of a German chemist Justus Von Liebig. Though considered a taboo by some communities, mirrors come with many benefits and uses and are a vital part of different cultures from both fictitious and superstitious points of view.
Nailing down the innovation of the mirror to a single culture or person is very difficult given that the definition of a ‘mirror’ is relative. This invention has however been so ingrained in the present society that people rarely stop to ask themselves of its origins. It is uncertain on who invented the mirror in the first place. However, the first mirrors can be traced in to Anatolia around 6000 BC and it was made using obsidian stone that was highly polished. The Chinese started making bronze mirrors in 2000 BC AND then they diffused in Greece, Rome and Egypt. The first layer and glass mirrors came about during the reign of the Roman Empire; could be in Sido (Lebanon) at the start of the 1st century AD. Related findings were obtained in China and \south America.
Arab physicist; Ibn Al Haytham and Ibn Sahl are the ones who studied and then came up with the very first mirrors with optical effect in the tenth / eleventh century. Later in the sixteenth century a mercury-tin alloy layer upon glass mirrors was invented in Venice. Industrialization of production was started by Saint Gobain; a French company. The first modern mirror with silvered glass came about in 1835 and it was a creation of a German chemist Justus Von Liebig. Though considered a taboo by some communities, mirrors come with many benefits and uses and are a vital part of different cultures from both fictitious and superstitious points of view.
