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