Frontispiece, Oculus hoc est: Fundamentum opticum, 1619. Allegorical view: a peacock and a large bird of prey form the central motif; on the sides are scenes demonstrating the transmission of images (or light) through lenses in openings in caves and mountains. Christoph Scheiner (July 25, 1573 or 1575 - July 18, 1650) was a German Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer. He spent the years 1598-1601 in Ingolstadt studying philosophy, metaphysics and mathematics. He taught mathematics and Hebrew, lectured on sun dials, practical geometry, astronomy, optics, and the telescope. He observed sunspots, invented the pantograph, manufactured a terrestrial telescope, and a portable camera obscura. In 1619 his Oculus hoc est, Fundamentum optimum was published. It contained many new insights into the physiological nature of the eye. While living in Rome, Rosa Ursina sive Sol, on sunspots, which served as a standard work for research work on the sunspots for a long time. His last work Prodromus, a pamphlet against the heliocentric theory, was published posthumously in 1651. He died in 1650 at the age of 74 or 76.