On the action of Transparent Bodies upon the differently coloured Rays of Light.

Brewster, Sir David

Publication Date: 1818

About this Item

Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 8 (1818), 4°, 23 pp., feiner Pappband. Read 5th June, 1815. First Print extracted from: The Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh! "From the intimate connexion of the present subject with the improvement of the Achromatic Telescope, it must be admitted to be one of the most important in Optics; while, from the minuteness of the effects which are to be observed and compared, it is unquestionably one of the most difficult. From this cause very little progress has been made in the investigation. The irrationality of the coloured spaces, in prismatic spectra, formed by different substances, has not even been mentioned in any of our elementary treatises on Natural Philosophy, and there are some philosophers who have scrupled to receive it as a truth established in Physics." Brewster 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." Morrison-Low, "Published writings of Sir David Brewster: a bibliography," in: Morrison-Low and Christie, 'Martyr of science', No. 225. See: DSB, II, pp. 451-454.

Seller Inventory # 68888

Bibliographic Details

• Title: On the action of Transparent Bodies upon the differently coloured Rays of Light.
• Publication Date: 1818
• Binding: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Optik