Bunuel
It is believed that the earliest precursor to the modern-day camera derives from the camera obscura, usually credited to the Arab scientist Abu Ali Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham in the eleventh century. Working in an early version of a dark room, Ibn al-Haitham studied the movement of light and discovered that he could reproduce images by reflecting light through pinholes. Prior to Ibn al-Haitham, though, the Chinese philosopher Mozi had already begun developing a variety of a pinhole camera in the fourth century BC. Later in that same century, both Aristotle and Euclid remarked on the placement of light when projected through pinholes. What is more, the Arab mathematician Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi became the first to project images with an early type of camera obscura in the ninth century. As a result, although Ibn al-Haitham is often credited with the creation of the camera obscura, he is also recorded as having said that he did not invent it.
The passage above implies all of the following EXCEPT:
(A) In developing the camera obscura, Ibn al-Haitham stole research from previous scientists and philosophers and claimed it as his own.
(B) Centuries before the camera obscura was fully developed, scientists and philosophers had been experimenting with the reflection of light through pinholes.
(C) The first recorded research about the study of light and pinholes appears to come from the Chinese philosopher Mozi.
(D) Ibn al-Haitham recognized that his accomplishment in inventing the camera obscura was founded on previous centuries of research into light reflection.
(E) Prior to Ibn al-Haitham’s invention in the eleventh century, Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi had developed a forerunner to the camera obscura.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Overview: Questions references a passage about the early development of the camera and particularly the invention known as the camera obscura. According to the passage, the camera obscura is credited to Abu Ali Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham, an eleventh-century Arab scientist. The author of the passage goes on to note, however, that Ibn al-Haitham was not necessarily the first to invent a camera along the lines of the camera obscura and that there had been similar work in the fourth century BC from the Chinese scientist Mozi and from Aristotle and Euclid in Greece. In the ninth century, Ibn al-Haitham’s fellow Arab scientist Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi developed an early prototype of the camera obscura. The author concludes by noting that Ibn al-Haitham himself claimed that he was not the inventor of the camera obscura. In this question, the student must identify the answer choice that is not implied in the passage, so the student must pay attention to the selection of words in the answer choices, because individual words can determine whether the answer choice is correct or incorrect.
The Correct Answer:A The passage suggests that Ibn al-Haitham utilized and benefited from the research of previous centuries on the camera obscura. But the passage does not imply at any point that he stole the research. In fact, Ibn al-Haitham recognized that he was not the real inventor of the camera obscura, so he clearly was not stealing research and claiming it as his own. Answer choice (A) is thus correct.
The Incorrect Answers:B The author of the passage notes that “the Chinese philosopher Mozi had already begun developing a variety of a pinhole camera in the fourth century BC. Later in the fourth century BC, both Aristotle and Euclid remarked on the placement of light when projected through pinholes.” And the author mentions Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi in the ninth century for more advanced work on light and pinholes. Clearly, the passage implies that before Ibn al-Haitham’s recognized development of a full camera obscura in the eleventh century, there were scientists from earlier centuries who had begun the work on light and pinholes. Answer choice (B) cannot be correct.
C The passage does not state clearly that Mozi’s work is the earliest on record, but given the fact that the passage is offering a history of the research leading up to Ibn al-Haitham’s work, it may be inferred that the author mentions the earliest recorded work on this subject. Answer choice (C) is implied by default, so it is incorrect.
D, E Answer choices (D) and (E) reflect the inferences of the correct answer in question 11, so both are definitely implied in the passage. Answer choices (D) and (E) are incorrect.