So once upon a time, I wrote a very serious, academic history of night vision tech. It had footnotes, citations, and all the soul-sucking excitement of a DMV manual. I was proud. My girlfriend and my 13-year-old son, however, told me it was “painfully boring.” And they were right. So here we are.
This is take two: the same info, but delivered like a Mel Brooks history lesson—with fewer musical numbers, more military hardware, and peasants who still “stink on ice.”
But first, a plug:
Have you visited our shop lately? It’s full of cool gear at chill prices, and unlike your latest prescription, it won’t cause kidney damage, hallucinations, or the sudden desire to text your ex. Help me keep writing this nonsense by buying something:
Did you hear the one about the pirate wearing a patch who actually had both eyes?
Turns out that’s REAL. So you see, you’re out doing your piracy thing and it turns out there’s a lot of fighting on deck, then going below deck where it’s super dark, then back up on deck. You know, to mix things up, keep it interesting, and get your steps in.
The pirates found that if they covered one eye with a patch then it would stay better adjusted to the dark below decks. So they would “go below” and then flip the patch to the other eye thereby “turning on” their dark adjusted eye - night vision.
OK, so it’s not a fusion system, but it is one of the first recorded attempts to use an artificially created advantage in the dark during combat to… plunder the booty.
The Pirate Era through World War I – When Science Was Just Guessing Loudly
Once upon a time, humans couldn’t see in the dark. Shocking, I know. To fix that, science did what it does best: threw a bunch of experiments at a wall and hoped something would glow. In 1800, Sir William Herschel discovered infrared radiation. That’s right—this guy found invisible light. By accident. While playing with prisms.
Fast forward to the late 1800s, and scientists found that some materials glowed when exposed to radiation. Did it help people see in the dark? Not really. But they had a fun time making rocks glow like party favors, so there’s that.
Then came WWI, and with it, the first “night glasses.” Basically, huge binoculars that made things look vaguely less dark. Sure, they worked... until someone pointed them at a bright light and fried their retinas like a marshmallow at a bonfire. You remember your weird cousin who burned ants with a magnifying glass? He would’ve loved these.
* ok, so maybe they didn’t hold a cat up to their eye.
1929: Kálmán Tihanyi, the OG Night Stalker
Enter Hungarian physicist Kálmán Tihanyi, who invented an IR-sensitive camera for British anti-aircraft use. It could “see” heat from planes. This wasn’t exactly high-def—more like blurry potato footage—but it was the beginning of using tech to see what nature said we shouldn’t. But hey if you’re on the coast at night and you see “hot blobs” floating in the sky, it’s time to be concerned.
Imagine a 1929 cameraman with a war-zone-sized TV camera, sweating bullets while tracking bombers. Now that’s commitment.
Meanwhile, RCA and German companies like AEG were developing cathode-ray tubes for television. Because nothing says "fun" like accidentally inventing a sensor to shoot people who think they’re safe in the dark while trying to make cartoons.
World War II to Vietnam (1940s–1960s):
The ‘What If We Just Shined a Flashlight?’ Era
Generation 0 – Active IR: Let’s Light Up the Night (and Ourselves)
During WWII, Germany rolled out active IR systems like the ZG 1229 "Vampir" for infantry. Great name, right? Definitely sounds like something Dracula would endorse. It was a man-portable scope with a giant battery pack and an IR spotlight. You could see up to 100 meters in the dark—as long as you didn’t mind looking like a walking sci-fi prop.
Then there was the FG 1250 “Sperber”, slapped onto Panther tanks with a big honkin’ IR searchlight. Could it see 600 meters? Sure. Could it make you a glowing target for anyone with IR detection? Also yes. Congratulations, you’re now a beacon of doom.
Meanwhile, the Allies weren't sleeping either. The U.S. introduced the M1 and M3 “Snooperscopes.” These were scopes so bulky and inconvenient, they practically screamed, “Please shoot me first.”
Let’s talk about the guts: these beasts used early cathode-ray tubes with silver–cesium–oxygen photocathodes, turning light into electrons, then slapping them into a phosphor screen to show an image. They amplified light about 1,000×—which sounds great until you realize they also amplified your position. Nothing like turning on your gear and lighting up like a Vegas casino.
Sure, these tubes were fragile and distorted everything, but hey, you could finally shoot stuff at night. And if the enemy didn’t get you, the cold would. Small victories.
By the 1960s, someone had the bright idea: “What if we stop shining flashlights and just… amplify the light that’s already there?” Thus, Gen 1 was born. Using improved photocathodes and multiple image tubes, the U.S. rolled out the AN/PVS-2 Starlight Scope during Vietnam.
This thing weighed about 6 lbs and was 17 inches long. Basically, it was a telescope that hit the gym but skipped leg day. It used three image intensifiers in series and could amplify ambient starlight like a cosmic whisper into a decent image.
Did it work? Yes. Was it awkward, heavy, and made you look like a sad cyborg? Also yes.
I wasn’t there, but I know a guy who was. A real-life ghost story to the VietCong—so effective they put a price on his head. Me? I get anxiety when Amazon sends a delivery photo.
Quick Intermission – AKA Shameless Plug Time
I still haven’t mentioned anything we sell in this history lesson yet, but I’m legally obligated (by my accountant) to remind you that we do sell night vision gear. And sometimes—just sometimes—we even have sales:
Click it. Buy something. Help keep the lights on. Ironically.
Coming Soon: The Cold War! (Not the one in your bedroom. Although that one also involves long-range stares, poor communication, and mutually assured destruction.)
