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Lot 1050
OPERATION CROSSROADS ATOMIC TESTS: OPTICS A U.S. Navy icaroscope, used to view the Atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, Universal Camera Corporation, c.1944.
25 October 2022, 14:00 EDT
New YorkUS$2,000 - US$3,000
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OPERATION CROSSROADS ATOMIC TESTS: OPTICS
A U.S. Navy icaroscope, used to view the Atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, Universal Camera Corporation, c.1944. Black wrinkle-finish painted metal, plastic, rubber eyepiece, glass lenses, 455 x 270 x 220 mm, with spare rectangular viewfinder lens of phosphor screen glass.
The icaroscope was a nonlinear optical device developed at the University of Rochester during WWII to spot enemy aircraft attacking from the direction of the sun, but was used to safely view atomic blasts in Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll. The scope records the image on a phosphor screen and using a double rotating shutter the image, which was initially blocked from the viewer, becomes viewable on the screen about 1/100th second later, thus protecting the eye.
The icaroscope was a nonlinear optical device developed at the University of Rochester during WWII to spot enemy aircraft attacking from the direction of the sun, but was used to safely view atomic blasts in Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll. The scope records the image on a phosphor screen and using a double rotating shutter the image, which was initially blocked from the viewer, becomes viewable on the screen about 1/100th second later, thus protecting the eye.

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