the other had been painted (and required for viewing) under ultraviolet light. Six years later, he exhibited another comparable painting that, viewed with the unaided eye, depicted the famous transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh, but when viewed through an optical instrument that Bittinger had invented, appeared instead to be the Mona Lisa. Eyewitness paintings In 1937, the U.S. Navy and the National Geographic Society invited Bittinger to paint on-site a total solar eclipse on Canton Island in the Pacific Ocean. In 1946, he was one of the artists invited by the U.S. Navy to witness and making paintings of the first atomic explosions at the Bikini Atoll, the results of which are now online at the U.S. Naval Historical Center website. Inventions According to the records of the U.S. Patent Office, Bittinger is credited with the following patents: U.S. Patent No. 1,342,247 [June 1, 1920]: Combining Reflected and Transmitted Light Waves of Varying Lengths to Produce Subjective Changes in Scenic Effects. U.S. Patent No. 1,629,250 [May 17, 1927]: Production and Utilization of Diachronic Inks. U.S. Patent No. 1,781,999 [March 16, 1929]: Rear View Mirror. U.S. Patent No. 1,934,310 [with E.O. Hulburt, November 7, 1933]: Visibility Meter and Method of Measuring Visibility. See also Camouflage Everett L. Warner Harold Van Buskirk Loyd A. Jones References External links WWI American ship camouflage Bittinger paintings at Operation Crossroads: Bikini Atoll 1879 births 1970 deaths Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Paris alumni Art Students League of New York alumni Académie Colarossi alumni 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Military camouflage American expatriates in France 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists