Follow the River Lecture Series: Lighting the Lighthouse

In “Lighting the Lighthouse” Mr. Almquist will discuss the history of the lighthouse from the “fire on a hill” to new LED light sources. The talk focuses on the Fresnel lens, developed in the 1850s, and its implementation around the globe as the primary lighthouse tool to project light beams across the water. Growth of electric lighting eliminated the flame-based lamps using the Fresnel lens. Today the lighthouse is an historical artifact, used but not required due to current navigation technology.