Reflection Decomposition Light Separating Surfaces by Brewster Sir David (1 results)

Phil. Trans., 119. - London, (1829), pp.187-206, 6 Fig., 1 Tab., feiner Pappband. Read February 12, 1829. *) "The principal experiments contained in this paper were made in 1816, and were signed by the president of the Physical Class of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. A brief notice of them was published in the Quarterly Journal for July-October, 1816, and a more extended (paper was read at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the 4th of January 1819. The difficulties of the subject, however, prevented me from pursuing it but at distant intervals; and the more fertile topic of polarisation afterwards required all the time I could devote to such inquiries." "It is a necessary result of the Newtonian theory of light, and one which Newton himself deduced, that when white light is incident on the separating surfaces of different media, it preserves its whiteness after reflection, excepting in those cases where the thickness of one of the media is beneath the 80 millionth part of an inch. When the discovery of the different dispersive powers of bodies was made, it should have been obvious that reflected light never could be perfectly white under any circumstances, though such a modification was not likely to be detected in the usual routine of optical experiments. The only philosopher indeed who, in as far as I know, has made any experiments on the subject is Mr. Herschel; and as his opinions may be considered as representing those of the present period, I shall make no apology for quoting them." 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. 446. See: DSB, II, pp. 451- 454.