periscope Art Space in Salzburg

In 1647, Johannes Hevelius described an early periscopic device, which he called a polemoscope, within his work Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio. Hevelius explicitly identified potential military applications for this invention.

Mikhail Lomonosov invented an optical tube similar to a periscope, which was utilized in 1834 within a submarine designed by Karl Andreevich Schilder.

Hippolyte Marié-Davy invented the first naval periscope in 1854, which featured a vertical tube equipped with two small mirrors fixed at 45-degree angles at each end.

Thomas H. Doughty of the United States Navy invented a prismatic version of the naval periscope during the American Civil War, which took place between 1861 and 1865.

Captain Arthur Krebs adapted two periscopes on the experimental French submarine Gymnote in 1888 and 1889, marking an early milestone in submarine optical technology.

Inventor Simon Lake is typically credited with the 1902 invention of the collapsible periscope for submarine warfare, which he referred to as the omniscope or skalomniscope.

During World War I, spanning 1914 to 1918, military forces utilized periscopes, including specifically designed periscope rifles, to allow soldiers to observe and fire from trenches while remaining safely protected from enemy fire.

Rudolf Gundlach patented a rotary periscope design in 1936, which provided a 360-degree field of view for tank commanders. It was first integrated into the Polish 7-TP light tank, produced between 1935 and 1939.

In the 21st century, modern naval vessels such as the Virginia-class and Astute-class submarines have increasingly replaced traditional optical periscopes with electronic photonics masts that relay digital sensor data to control stations.