Below is a listing of the major changes in the Fresnel lens through time and in most cases who the creator of each change was.

Chronology of the Development of the Fresnel Lighthouse Lens
  
YearMajor Change or Improvement
  
1823Fresnel's First 1st Order Flashing Lens Installed at Cordouan France
1824Fresnel's First 4th Order Fixed Lens
1825Fresnel's First 4th Order Fixed-Flashing Lens
1826Fresnel's First Catadioptric Lens
1835Introduction of the Fresnel Lens into the Lighthouses in Scotland
1836First 1st Order Cylindrical Fixed Lens with Upper and Lower Prisms By Cookson in Scotland for Isle of May Lighthouse
1840First use of Lower Prisms (Lower Catadioptric Panels) in a Flashing lens by Alan Stevenson in Scotland - Skerryvore Lens
1841First use of the Fresnel Lens in America at Navesink
1842First lens design that equalized the power of the Red and White Panels by Alan Stevenson in Scotland
1848Letourneau Proposes and Uses Split Flash Panels to Lengthen the Duration of the Flash in France 
1849First Holophotal Lens with Prisms above and below the Flash Panels by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland
1849First Dioptric Spherical Mirror by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland
1850Letourneau Designs Lenses with Alternating Flash and Fixed Panels in France
1851First use of the Apparent Light Lens by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland
1855Design and First use of Condensing Lenses by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland
1858Proposal to develop Bi-Form Lenses - By J. W. D. Brown in Britain
1859Design and First Use of the Bi-Valve Lens by Thomas Stevenson in Scotland
1869Proposal for the Hyper-radial Lens by Thomas Stevenson
1872Design and Use of Bi-Form Lenses in Ireland by John Wigham
1872Proposal for Hyper-radial Lens By John Wigham in Ireland
1877Design and Use of Tri-Form and Quadri-Form Lenses in Ireland by John Wigham
1877First Hyper-radial Lens Drawings by Barbier & Fenestre in France
1884Invention of the Group Flashing Lens By Dr. John Hopkinson of Chance Brothers in Britain
1885First Hyper-radial Lens Panels Built by F. Barbier Tested at South Foreland Trials
1887First Hyper-radial Lens Built by F. Barbier and installed at Tory Island, Ireland
1887First Hyper-radial Lens Built by Chance Brothers Britain Installed at Bishop Rock, Britain
1892Design and First Use of Equiangular Prisms by Charles Stevenson in Scotland
1892Proposal and Construction of a Single "Giant Lens" Panel Proposed by John Wigham, Ireland Built by F. Barbier, France
1910The Lighthouse Bureau in America requests that Macbeth-Evans Glass Company develop Fresnel Lenses of the 4th and 5th order made in America
1913Macbeth-Evans produces the first 4th order American made Fresnel Lens