A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Olivier Darrigol
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191627453
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book is a long-term history of optics, from early Greek theories of vision to the nineteenth-century victory of the wave theory of light. It shows how light gradually became the central entity of a domain of physics that no longer referred to the functioning of the eye; it retraces the subsequent competition between medium-based and corpuscular concepts of light; and it details the nineteenth-century flourishing of mechanical ether theories. The author critically exploits and sometimes completes the more specialized histories that have flourished in the past few years. The resulting synthesis brings out the actors' long-term memory, their dependence on broad cultural shifts, and the evolution of disciplinary divisions and connections. Conceptual precision, textual concision, and abundant illustration make the book accessible to a broad variety of readers interested in the origins of modern optics.

A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Olivier Darrigol
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191627453
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is a long-term history of optics, from early Greek theories of vision to the nineteenth-century victory of the wave theory of light. It shows how light gradually became the central entity of a domain of physics that no longer referred to the functioning of the eye; it retraces the subsequent competition between medium-based and corpuscular concepts of light; and it details the nineteenth-century flourishing of mechanical ether theories. The author critically exploits and sometimes completes the more specialized histories that have flourished in the past few years. The resulting synthesis brings out the actors' long-term memory, their dependence on broad cultural shifts, and the evolution of disciplinary divisions and connections. Conceptual precision, textual concision, and abundant illustration make the book accessible to a broad variety of readers interested in the origins of modern optics.

A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Olivier Darrigol
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199644373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This book is a long-term history of optics, from early Greek theories of vision to the nineteenth-century victory of the wave theory of light. It is a clear and richly illustrated synthesis of a large amount of literature, and a reliable and efficient guide for anyone who wishes to enter this domain.

From Sight to Light

From Sight to Light PDF Author: A. Mark Smith
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022652857X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
From its inception in Greek antiquity, the science of optics was aimed primarily at explaining sight and accounting for why things look as they do. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, the analytic focus of optics had shifted to light: its fundamental properties and such physical behaviors as reflection, refraction, and diffraction. This dramatic shift—which A. Mark Smith characterizes as the “Keplerian turn”—lies at the heart of this fascinating and pioneering study. Breaking from previous scholarship that sees Johannes Kepler as the culmination of a long-evolving optical tradition that traced back to Greek antiquity via the Muslim Middle Ages, Smith presents Kepler instead as marking a rupture with this tradition, arguing that his theory of retinal imaging, which was published in 1604, was instrumental in prompting the turn from sight to light. Kepler’s new theory of sight, Smith reveals, thus takes on true historical significance: by treating the eye as a mere light-focusing device rather than an image-producing instrument—as traditionally understood—Kepler’s account of retinal imaging helped spur the shift in analytic focus that eventually led to modern optics. A sweeping survey, From Sight to Light is poised to become the standard reference for historians of optics as well as those interested more broadly in the history of science, the history of art, and cultural and intellectual history.

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics PDF Author: Jed Z. Buchwald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019969625X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 956

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Book Description
Presents a history of physics, examining the theories and experimental practices of the science.

Electrodynamics from Ampère to Einstein

Electrodynamics from Ampère to Einstein PDF Author: Olivier Darrigol
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198505938
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
This book recounts the developments of fundamental electrodynamics from Ampère's investigation of the forces between electric currents to Einstein's introduction of a new doctrine of space and time. The emphasis is on the diverse, evolving practices of electrodynamics and the interactions between the corresponding scientific traditions. A richly documented, clearly written, and abundantly illustrated history of the subject.

George Gabriel Stokes

George Gabriel Stokes PDF Author: Mark McCartney
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192555715
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
George Gabriel Stokes was one of the most important mathematical physicists of the 19th century. During his lifetime he made a wide range of contributions, notably in continuum mechanics, optics and mathematical analysis. His name is known to generations of scientists and engineers through the various physical laws and mathematical formulae named after him, such as the Navier-Stokes equations in fluid dynamics. Born in Ireland into a family of academics, clergymen and physicians, he became the longest serving Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. Impressive as his own scientific achievements were, he made an equally important contribution as a sounding board for his contemporaries, providing good judgement and mathematical rigour in his wide correspondence and during his 31 years as Secretary of the Royal Society where he played a major role in the direction of British science. Outside his own area he was a distinguished public servant and MP for Cambridge University. He was keenly interested in the relation between science and religion and wrote at length on their interaction. Stokes was a remarkable scientist who lived in an equally remarkable age of discovery and innovation. This edited collection of essays brings together experts in mathematics, physics and the history of science to cover the many facets of Stokes's life in a scholarly but accessible way to mark the bicentenary of his birth.

Optics in Our Time

Optics in Our Time PDF Author: Mohammad D. Al-Amri
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319319035
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
Light and light based technologies have played an important role in transforming our lives via scientific contributions spanned over thousands of years. In this book we present a vast collection of articles on various aspects of light and its applications in the contemporary world at a popular or semi-popular level. These articles are written by the world authorities in their respective fields. This is therefore a rare volume where the world experts have come together to present the developments in this most important field of science in an almost pedagogical manner. This volume covers five aspects related to light. The first presents two articles, one on the history of the nature of light, and the other on the scientific achievements of Ibn-Haitham (Alhazen), who is broadly considered the father of modern optics. These are then followed by an article on ultrafast phenomena and the invisible world. The third part includes papers on specific sources of light, the discoveries of which have revolutionized optical technologies in our lifetime. They discuss the nature and the characteristics of lasers, Solid-state lighting based on the Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology, and finally modern electron optics and its relationship to the Muslim golden age in science. The book’s fourth part discusses various applications of optics and light in today's world, including biophotonics, art, optical communication, nanotechnology, the eye as an optical instrument, remote sensing, and optics in medicine. In turn, the last part focuses on quantum optics, a modern field that grew out of the interaction of light and matter. Topics addressed include atom optics, slow, stored and stationary light, optical tests of the foundation of physics, quantum mechanical properties of light fields carrying orbital angular momentum, quantum communication, and Wave-Particle dualism in action.

Worlds of Flow

Worlds of Flow PDF Author: Olivier Darrigol
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198568436
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
This book provides the first fully-fledged history of hydrodynamics, including lively accounts of the concrete problems of hydraulics, navigation, blood circulation, meteorology, and aeronautics that motivated the main conceptual innovations. Richly illustrated, technically competent, and philosophically sensitive, it should attract a broad audience and become a standard reference for any one interested in fluid mechanics.

The Oxford Handbook of German Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century

The Oxford Handbook of German Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Michael N. Forster
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191065528
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 1062

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of German Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century is the first collective critical study of this important period in intellectual history. The volume is divided into four parts. The first part explores individual philosophers, including Fichte, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, and Nietzsche, amongst other great thinkers of the period. The second addresses key philosophical movements: Idealism, Romanticism, Neo-Kantianism, and Existentialism. The essays in the third part engage with different areas of philosophy that received particular attention at this time, including philosophy of nature, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of history, and hermeneutics. Finally, the contributors turn to discuss central philosophical topics, from skepticism to mat-erialism, from dialectics to ideas of historical and cultural Otherness, and from the reception of antiquity to atheism. Written by a team of leading experts, this Handbook will be an essential resource for anyone working in the area and will lead the direction of future research.

The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century

The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Paul Watt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190616938
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 569

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Book Description
Rarely studied in their own right, writings about music are often viewed as merely supplemental to understanding music itself. Yet in the nineteenth century, scholarly interest in music flourished in fields as disparate as philosophy and natural science, dramatically shifting the relationship between music and the academy. An exciting and much-needed new volume, The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century draws deserved attention to the people and institutions of this period who worked to produce these writings. Editors Paul Watt, Sarah Collins, and Michael Allis, along with an international slate of contributors, discuss music's fascinating and unexpected interactions with debates about evolution, the scientific method, psychology, exoticism, gender, and the divide between high and low culture. Part I of the handbook establishes the historical context for the intellectual world of the period, including the significant genres and disciplines of its music literature, while Part II focuses on the century's institutions and networks - from journalists to monasteries - that circulated ideas about music throughout the world. Finally, Part III assesses how the music research of the period reverberates in the present, connecting studies in aestheticism, cosmopolitanism, and intertextuality to their nineteenth-century origins. The Handbook challenges Western music history's traditionally sole focus on musical work by treating writings about music as valuable cultural artifacts in themselves. Engaging and comprehensive, The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century brings together a wealth of new interdisciplinary research into this critical area of study.