Leonardo da Vinci designed a camera obscura to project an image of the Sun for safe observation.
A camera obscura is a darkened room or box with a small opening. Light entering through the opening forms an inverted image of the outside scene on an opposite surface. Leonardo described and illustrated the principle while studying perspective, vision, and the geometry of light.
The device is not a camera in the modern photographic sense because it does not automatically record the image. It is also not a telescope, which uses lenses or mirrors to magnify distant objects. Leonardo recognized that the projected image of the Sun could be observed indirectly, avoiding direct viewing of the bright disk.