Which mechanism enabled Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham) to accurately describe image formation in the camera obscura?

💡 Explanation

Alhazen understood that when light passes through a small hole, rectilinear propagation causes the light rays to travel in straight lines, projecting an inverted image of the outside scene onto the opposite wall. Therefore, rectilinear propagation explains image formation, rather than diffraction, refraction, or polarization each requiring different optical elements.

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