John Burnside

For the Scottish writer (born 1955), see John Burnside.John Lyon Burnside III (November 2, 1916 – September 14, 2008) was the inventor of the teleidoscope, the darkfield kaleidoscope and the Symmetricon. Because he rediscovered the math behind kaleidoscope optics, for decades, every maker of optically correct kaleidoscopes sold in the United States paid him royalties. Harry Hay was his life partner from 1962 until Hay's death in 2002. He was living in San Francisco, California, at the time of his death on September 14, 2008 from complications of brain cancer.