Innovation in Optical Design -a short historyDavid ShaferDavid Shafer Optical Design"Thinking outside the box"is usuallyregarded as a metaphor,but someinnovation consists of actually thinkingof a different way to view a particularspatial region,such as a box.I have always been interested in the history of early inventions.One inventionfrom 2,700 years ago seems completely obvious to us now but was a very originalidea at that time-the picture caption.You will be seeing lots of them here.In ancient Greece vases were usually painted with scenes from Greek mythology.Usually it would be clear to everyone what the pictures were intended to show.On the right here is Helios the sun god driving his chariot across the sky.On theleft is a scene from Homer's Odyssey with Odysseus and the Sirens.Butsometimes it would not be obvious who the people were or what the scene wassupposed to show.Around 700 B.C.some brilliant person invented the picturecaption-a completely original idea back then.