On the Laws which regulate the Distribution of the Polarising Force in Plates, Tubes, and Cylinders of Glass, that have receive the Polarising Structure.

Brewster, Sir David

Publication Date: 1818

About this Item

Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 8 (1818), 4°, pp.353-372, 1 Tafel, feine Broschur. Read June 17, 1816. First Print extracted from: The Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh! "In the Philosophical Transactions for 1816, I have described at great length the various phenomena which are exhibited by glass and other substances to which the property of double refraction has been communicated by heat, by rapid cooling, by evaporation, or by mechanical compression and dilatation. In pursuing the same subject, I have observed many singular facts respecting the developement of new axes, by a change in the form and condition of the plates; and by submitting the phenomena to accurate measurement, I have succeeded in determining the laws which regulate the distribution of the polarising force. A brief account of these results will form the subject of the following paper." "This paper contains one of many statements of Brewster's most famous law; Brewster's law, which connects refractive index with angle of polarization. In this paper Brewster described for the first time a teinometer, an instrument designed to ascertain the elasticity of bodies. See: Cantor, "Brewster on the nature of light," Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) was a Scottish scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics, mostly concerned with the study of the polarization of light and including the discovery of Brewster's angle. He studied the birefringence of crystals under compression and discovered photoelasticity, thereby creating the field of optical mineralogy. For this work, William Whewell dubbed him the "father of modern experimental optics" and "the Johannes Kepler of optics." See: Cantor, "Brewster on the nature of light," in: Morrison-Low and Christie, 'Martyr of science', p. 69; Morrison-Low, "Brewster and scientific instruments," in Morrison-Low and Christie, 'Martyr of science', p. 59. Morrison-Low, "Published writings of Sir David Brewster: a bibliography," in: Morrison-Low and Christie, 'Martyr of science', No. 230. See: DSB, II, pp. 451-454.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: On the Laws which regulate the Distribution of the Polarising Force in Plates, Tubes, and Cylinders of Glass, that have receive the Polarising Structure.
• Publication Date: 1818
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Optik