Plato
Aristotel
300BC - ???BC Euclid
Title: Euclidis Optica, Opticorum recensio theonis, Catoptrica, cum scholiis antiquis
Language: Latin
Format: jpeg
Source: European Cultural Heritage Online - Euclidis Opera omnia, vol.7
Eukleidou Optika kai katoptrika fermi.imss.fi.it
262BC - 190BC Appolonius of Perga
Title: On the Burning-Glass
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Source: Lost!?
0010 - 0070 Hero of Alexandria
Title: Mechanica et Catoptrica
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Source: ???
On the Dioptra (Dioptra)
0083 - 0168 Claudius Ptolemaeus /Ptolemy/ - tabulates angles of refraction for several media
Title: Optics
Language: Latin
Format: djvu, pdf
Source 1: Internet Archive
Source 2: www.wilbourhall.org
0965 - 1039 Alhazen - studying lenses, the psychology of vision, the first dark-room camera, and was first to properly describe the mechanisms of eye sight
Title: Opticae thesaurus: Alhazeni Arabis
Language: Latin
Format: pdf
Source 1: imgbase-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr
Source 2: Bibliothèque numérique du cinéma
Source 3: Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
Title: De aspectibus (Perspectivae)
Language: Latin
Format: jpeg, pdf
Source: Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum
1175 - 1253 Robert Grosseteste
Title: De Luce - study of light
Title: De Natura Locorum - diagrams a glass of water refracting light
Title: De Iride - study of optics using lenses and mirrors
In: Die philosophischen Werke des Robert Grosseteste, Bischofs von Lincoln
Language: German, Latin
Format: pdf
Source 1: www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de
Source 2: www.grosseteste.com
1214 - 1294 Roger Bacon
Title: Opus Majus
Language: Latin
Format: djvu, pdf
Source vol.1: Internet Archive
Source vol.2: Internet Archive
Source vol.3: Internet Archive
1230 - 128? Witelo
Title: Perspectiva (Witelonis Perspectivae)
Language: Latin, English
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Source: ???
1250 - 1310 Theodoric of Freiberg - was able to give the first correct geometrical analysis of the rainbow
Title: De iride et radialibus impressionibus
Language: Latin
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Source: ???
German Translation: Über den Regenbogen und die durch strahlen erzeugten Eindrücke
English Translation: On the rainbow and radiant impressions
1566 - 1624 Marco Antonio de Dominis
Title: De radiis visus et lucis in vitris perspectivis et iride
Language: Latin
Format: html, pdf
Source: Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
1571 - 1630 Johannes Kepler
Title: Dioptrik oder Schilderung der ... - presented an explanation of the principles involved in the convergent/divergent lens microscopes and telescopes. In the same treatise, he suggested that a telescope could be constructed using a converging objective and a converging eye lens and described a combination of lenses that would later become known as the telephoto lens. He discovered total internal reflection, but was unable to find a satisfactory relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction
Language: German
Format: pdf
Source: Gallica
Title: Ad Vitellionem paralipomena - suggested that the intensity of light from a point source varies inversely with the square of the distance from the source, that light can be propagated over an unlimited distance and that the speed of propagation is infinite. He explained vision as a consequence of the formation of an image on the retina by the lens in the eye and correctly described the causes of long-sightedness and short-sightedness
Language: Latin
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Source: imgbase-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr
1580 - 1638 Sacharias Jansen - sometimes credited for inventing the first truly compound microscope
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1570 - 1619 Hans Lippershey - generally credited as being the inventor of the telescope
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1546 - 1642 Galileo Galilei - build his telescope after Hans Lippershey
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1573 - 1650 Christoph Scheiner
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1580 - 1626 Willebrord Snellius
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1596 - 1650 Rene Descartes
Title: Dioptrics
In: Oeuvres de Descartes, vol.1-11
Language: French, Latin
Format: pdf
Source: Gallica
Title: Рассуждение о методе с приложениями. Диоптрика, метеоры, геометрия
Language: Russian
Format: djvu
Source: EqWorld
1598 - 1647 Bonaventura Cavalieri - Derived a relationship between the radii of curvature of the surfaces of a thin lens and its focal length
Title: Lo specchio ustorio, overo, Trattato delle settioni coniche -
Language: Latin
Format: jpeg, pdf
Source 1: Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
Source 2: European Cultural Heritage Online
1601 - 1665 Pierre de Fermat - Enunciated his principle of 'least time', according to which, a ray of light follows the path which takes it to its destination in the shortest time. This principle is consistent with Snell's law of refraction
Title: Oeuvres de Fermat
Language: Latin
Format: djvu
Source vol.1: Internet Archive
Source vol.2: Internet Archive
Source vol.3: Internet Archive
Source vol.4: Internet Archive
1638 - 1675 James Gregory - Suggested the use of a converging mirror for the objective of a telescope as a cure for aberrations
Title: Optica promota
Language: Latin
Format: pdf
Source: Gallica
Title: Optica promota
Language: English
Format: pdf
Source: Ian Bruce at www.17centurymaths.com
1618 - 1663 Francesco Grimaldi - Grimaldi's observations of diffraction when he passed white light through small apertures were described. Grimaldi concluded that light is a fluid that exhibits wave-like motion
Title: Physico mathesis de lumine, coloribus, et iride, aliisque annexis libri duo
Language: Latin
Format: jpeg, pdf
Source: Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
1629 - 1695 Christiaan Huygens -
Title: Traite de Lumiere
Language: French
Format: pdf
Source: Gallica
Title: Treatise On Light
Language: English
Format: djvu
Source: Internet Archive
1635 - 1703 Robert Hooke - Hooke described his observations with a compound microscope having a converging objective lens and a converging eye lens. In the same work, he described his observations of the colours produced in flakes of mica, soap bubbles and films of oil on water. He recognised that the colour produced in mica flakes is related to their thickness but was unable to establish any definite relationship between thickness and colour. Hooke advocated a wave theory for the propagation of light
Title: Micrographia
Language: English
Format: jpeg, html
Source 1: contentdm.lindahall.org
Source 2: www.gutenberg.org
1643 - 1727 Isaac Newton
Title: Opticks : or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflections and colours of light
Language: English
Format: djvu
Source: Internet Archive
1656 - 1698 William Molyneux -
Title: Dioptrica nova - mentioned by Halley in his article "An Instance of the Excellence..."
Language: English
Format: pdf
Source: Bibliothèque numérique du cinéma
1656 - 1742 Edmond Halley -
Title: An Instance of the Excellence of the Modern Algebra, in the Resolution of the Problem of Finding the Foci of Optick Glasses Universally - the article from wich aroused Lagrange interest in mathematics
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Source: Gallica - Phil.Trans. 1693, vol.17:p.960-969
1693 - 1762 James Bradley - calculated the speed of light from observations of the 'aberration' of light from stars, an apparent motion of a star arising from the value of the speed of light in relation to the speed of the earth in its orbit
Title: (1725) ???
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Miscellaneous works and correspondence of James Bradley
Source: Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza
1703 - 1771 Chester Hall - constructed an achromatic compound lens using components made from glasses with different refractive indices
Title: ???
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1726 - 1753 Thomas Melvill - observed that the spectra of flames into which metals or salts have been introduced show bright lines characteristic of what has been introduced into the flame
Title: (1756) Observations on light and colours
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Source: ???
1766 - 1828 William Wollaston - discovered that the spectrum of sunlight is crossed by a number of dark lines
Title: (1802) ???
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1770 - 1851 William Nicol - invented the first device for obtaining plane-polarized light — the Nicol prism.
Title: (1829) ???
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1773 - 1829 Thomas Young - provided support for the wave theory by demonstrating the interference of light
Title: (1803) Experiments and Calculations Relative to Physical Optics
Language: English
Format: pdf
Source: Gallica - Philosophical Transactions, 1804, vol.94, p.1
1775 - 1812 Étienne-Louis Malus - as a result of observing light reflected from the windows of the Palais Luxembourg in Paris through a calcite crystal as it is rotated, Malus discovered an effect that later led to the conclusion that light can be polarized by reflection
Title: (1809) Sur une propriete de la lumiere reflechie par les corps diaphanes
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Source: Bulletin des sceances de la Societe philomatique de Paris", 1808, t. 1, p. 266
Title: (1810) Theorie de la double refraction de la lumiere dans les substances cristallines
Language: French
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Source: University of Strasbourg (or "Memoires des savants etrangeres", 1811, t. 2, p. 305)
Other works at Gallica-Math
1787 - 1826 Joseph von Fraunhofer - 1. rediscovered the dark lines in the solar spectrum noted by Wollaston and determined their position with improved precision. 2. Described his investigations of the diffraction of light by gratings which were initially made by winding fine wires around parallel screws. 3. Published his theory of diffraction.
Title: p.1: Bestimmung d. Brechungs und d. Farbenzerstreuungs-Vermögens verschiedener Glasarten, in Bezug auf d. Vervollkommung achromatischer Fernröhre ("Denkschrif. München. Acad.", т. V, 1814—1815) - contain description of the dark lines in the solar spectrum
Title: p.51: Neue Modification d. Lichts durch gegenseitig e Einwirkung und Beugung d. Strahlen und Gesetzte derselben ("Denksch. München. Acad.", т. VIII, 1821—1822) - Described diffraction of light by gratings
Language: German
Format: jpeg, djvu
Source: University of Strasbourg - Joseph von Fraunhofer's gesammelte Schriften
1814: Joseph von Fraunhofer, spectroscope
1816: Joseph von Fraunhofer, absorption lines in sun's spectrum
Prismatic and Diffraction Spectra
Source: Internet Archive
1781 - 1868 David Brewster - described the polarization of light by reflection
Title: On the laws which regulate the polarisation of light by reflexion from transparent bodies
Language: English
Format: pdf
Source: Gallica - Philosophical Transactions, 1815, vol.105, p.125-159
Title: p.1: Additional Observations on the Optical Properties and Structure of Heated Glass and Unannealed Glass Drops
Title: p.29: Experiments on the Depolarisation of Light as Exhibited by Various Mineral, Animal, and Vegetable Bodies, with a Reference of the Phenomena to the General Principles of Polarisation
Title: p.60: On the Effects of Simple Pressure in Producing That Species of Crystallization Which Forms Two Oppositely Polarised Images, and Exhibits the Complementary Colours by Polarised Light
Title: p.270: On the Multiplication of Images, and the Colours Which Accompany Them in Some Specimens of Calcareous Spar
Source: Gallica - Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., 1815, vol.105
Account of a singular experiment depending on the polsarisation of light by reflection
Source: Internet Archive - The Edinburgh philosophical journal, 1822, vol.7, p.146
A treatise on optics
Source: Internet Archive
The kaleidoscope, its history, theory and construction with its application to the fine and useful arts
Source: Internet Archive
1788 - 1827 Augustin Fresnel - 1. presented a rigorous treatment of diffraction and interference phenomena showing that they can be explained in terms of a wave theory of light. 2. Presented the laws which enable the intensity and polarization of reflected and refracted light to be calculated.
Title: (1819) Memoire sur la Diffraction de la Lumiere
Language: French
Format: pdf
Source: Académie des sciences
English translation: The Wave Theory of Light and Spectra
Source: ???
The wave theory of light; memoirs of Huygens, Young and Fresnel
Source: Internet Archive
Oeuvres Completes
Source vol.1: Internet Archive
Source vol.2: Gallica
Source vol.3: Internet Archive
Lord Rayleigh, On the Passage of Waves through Apertures in Plane Screens, Phil. Mag. 43, 259-272 (1897);
Lord Rayleigh, On the Passage of Waves through Fine Slits in Thin Opaque Screens. Proc. Roy. Soc. (A) 89, 194-219 (1913).
H. L. F. v. Helmholtz, Theorie der Luftschwingungen in Rohren mit offenen Enden,: J. Mathematik 57, 1-72 (1859).
1791 - 1867 Michael Faraday - described the rotation of the plane of polarized light that is passed through glass in a magnetic field (the Faraday effect)
Title: (1846) On the magnetization of light and the illumination of magnetic lines of force
Language: English
Format: pdf
Source 1: Gallica - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1846, vol.136, 1-20
Source 2: Internet Archive - The Effects of a Magnetic Field on Radiation: Memoirs by Faraday, Kerr, and Zeeman
Title: (1846) On the Magnetic Affection of Light, and on the Distinction between the Ferromagnetic and Diamagnetic Conditions of Matter
Language: English
Format: djvu, pdf
Source 1: Internet Archive - The Effects of a Magnetic Field on Radiation: Memoirs by Faraday, Kerr, and Zeeman
Source 2: Gallica - Experimental Researches in Electricity, vol.3
Source 3: Philosophical Magazine Series 3, Volume 29 Issue 193 1846, p.153-156
1801 - 1892 George Airy - calculated the form of the diffraction pattern produced by a circular aperture
Title: (1833) p.283: On the Diffraction of an Object-Glass with Circular Aperture
Language: English
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Source: Internet Archive - Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1833, vol.5, p.283
1807 - 1881 David Alter - described the spectrum of hydrogen and other gases.
Title: (1854) On Certain Physical Properties of Light Produced by the Combustion of Different Metals in an Electric Spark Refracted by a Prism
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Source: ??? Am. J. Sci. Arts 18 (1854): pages 55-57.
Title: (1855) On Certain Physical Properties of the Light of the Electric Spark, Within Certain Gases, as Seen Through a Prism
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Source: ??? Am. J. Sci. Arts 19 (1855): pages 213-214.
Ann. Sci. Phys. Nat. (1856): page 151.
1811 - 1899 Robert Bunsen - with Kirchoff performed experiments leading to the conclusion that the dark lines in the solar spectrum observed by Wollaston and Fraunhofer arise due to the absorption of light by gases in the solar atmosphere that are cooler than those emitting the light.
Title: ?(1860) Chemical analysis by spectrum-observations
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Phil. Mag., 4th ser. 20 (1860), 89–109; 22 (1861)
Annalen der Physik und der Chemie (Poggendorff), Vol. 110 (1860), pp. 161-189
Kleiner Spectralapparat zum Gebrauch in Laboratorien.— Z. analyt. Chem. Fresenius. Wiesbaden, 1862, Bd 1, S. 139--140.
The laws of radiation and absorption; memoirs by Prévost, Stewart, Kirchhoff, and Kirchhoff and Bunsen
Source: Internet Archive
Gesammelte Abhandlungen von Robert Bunsen
Source: Internet Archive
Gasometry : comprising the leading physical and chemical properties of gases
Source: Internet Archive
Méthodes gazométriques
Source: Gallica
1819 - 1896 Armand Fizeau - 1. Using a rotating toothed wheel to break up a light beam into a series of pulses, Fizeau made the first non-astronomical determination of the speed of light (in air). Obtained a value of 313,300 km.s-1. 2. Performed an experiment to determine whether the velocity of light in water is affected by flow of the water. He found that it is, the change in the velocity of light being about a half the velocity of the flowing water
Title: (1851) Sur les hypothèses relatives à l’éther lumineux
Language: French
Format: pdf
Source 1: Gallica - Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des ..., vol. 33, p. 349–355
Source 2: Gallica - Annales de chimie et de physique , vol. 57, p. 385–404.
Laue, M. (1907). "Die Mitführung des Lichtes durch bewegte Körper nach dem Relativitätsprinzip". Annalen der Physik 23: 989–990.
Zeeman, Pieter (1914). "Fresnel's coefficient for light of different colours. (First part)". Proc. Kon. Acad. Van Weten. 17: 445–451.
Zeeman, Pieter (1915). "Fresnel's coefficient for light of different colours. (Second part)". Proc. Kon. Acad. Van Weten. 18: 398–408.
1819 - 1868 Léon Foucault - Foucault determined the speed of light in air using a rotating mirror method. Obtains a value of 298,000 km.s-1.In the same year, Foucault used a rotating mirror method to measure the speed of light in stationary water and found that it was less than in air
Title: ???
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Recueil des travaux scientifiques de Léon Foucault
Source vol.1: University of Strasbourg
Source vol.2: University of Strasbourg
1820 - 1893 John Tyndall - describes experimental studies of the scattering of light from aerosols
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Source: ??? Phil. Mag.,1869, vol.37, p. 384-394, vol.38, p.156
On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radiation, Absorption, and Conduction
Source: California Institute of Technology - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 151 (1861), pp. 1-36
Six lectures on light
Source: Internet Archive
Heat considered as a mode of motion
Source: Internet Archive
1824 - 1887 Gustav Kirchoff - with Bunsen performed experiments leading to the conclusion that the dark lines in the solar spectrum observed by Wollaston and Fraunhofer arise due to the absorption of light by gases in the solar atmosphere that are cooler than those emitting the light
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1824 - 1907 John Kerr - demonstrates the quadratic electro-optic effect (the Kerr effect) in glass
Title: On Rotation of the Plane of the Polarization by Reflection from the Pole of a Magnet (Phil. Mag. 3 (1877) p.321)
Title: On Reflection of Polarized Light from the Equatorial Surface of a Magnet (Phil. Mag. 5 (1878) p.161.)
Language: English
Format: djvu
Source: Internet Archive - The Effects of a Magnetic Field on Radiation: Memoirs by Faraday, Kerr, and Zeeman
1825 - 1898 Johann Balmer - presents an empirical formula describing the position of the emission lines in the visible part of the spectrum of hydrogen
Title: (1855) Notiz über die Spectrallinien des Wasserstoffs
Language: German
Format: djvu
Source: Internet Archive - Annalen der Physik und Chemie, vol. 25, p. 80-87.
Title: Note on the Spectral Lines of Hydrogen
Language: English
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Source: Carmen Giunta at Le Moyne College -
1831 - 1879 James Clerk Maxwell - from his studies of the equations describing electric and magnetic fields, it is found that the speed of an electromagnetic wave should, within experimental error, be the same as the speed of light. Maxwell concludes that light is a form of electromagnetic wave
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1835 - 1893 Josef Stefan - presents an empirical relationship which asserts that the total radiant energy emitted from a body per unit time is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the body
Title: (1879) Über die Beziehung zwischen der Wärmestrahlung und der Temperatur - deduced the law from experimental measurements made by John Tyndall: "Heat considered as a mode of motion"
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Source: ??? - Sitzungsberichte der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematische-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, II Abtheilung, 79, pp. 391-428.
1838 - 1923 Edward Morley - describe their unsuccessful attemps to detect the motion of the earth with respect to the 'Luminiferous Aether' by investigating whether the speed of light depends upon the direction in which the light beam moves (The Michelson-Morley experiment)
Title: (1887) On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether
Language: English
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Source: Wikisource - American Journal of Science, 1887, 34 (203): 333–345
1840 - 1905 Ernst Abbe - presents a detailed theory of image formation in the microscope
Title:
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Abbe Gesammelte Abhandlungen
Source vol. 1: ??? - Abhandlungen über die Theorie des Mikroskops
Source vol. 2: ??? - Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen aus verschiedenen Gebieten. Patentschriften. Gedächtnisreden
Source 1, vol. 3: Internet Archive - Vorträge, Reden und Schriften sozialpolitischen und verwandten Inhalts
Source 2, vol.3: The Project Gutenberg
Source vol. 4: ??? - Arbeiten zum Glaswerk zwischen 1882 und 1885
1841 - 1902 Marie Cornu - describes a graphical approach (the Cornu spiral) to the solution of diffraction problems
Title: (1874) Méthode nouvelle pour la discussion des problémes de diffraction dans le cas d'une onde cylindrique
Language: French
Format: pdf
Source 1: HAL - Journal de physique theorique et appliquee 3, 1 (1874) 44-52
Source 2: Journal de Physique Archives -
Etudes sur la diffraction; methode geometrique pour la discussion des problemes de diffraction
Source: Gallica - Comptes Rendus, tome 78, 1874, pp. 113-117.
1842 - 1919 John Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) - 1. Presents a general law which relates the intensity of light scattered from small particles to the wavelength of the light when the dimensions of the particles is much less than the wavelength. He also makes a 'zone plate' which produces focussing of light by Fresnel diffraction. 2. Explains the blue colour of the sky and red sunsets as being due to the preferential scattering of blue light by molecules in the earth's atmosphere.
Title: On the light from the sky, its polarization and colour
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Source: ??? Phil.Mag., 1871, vol.41, p.107, 274
Title: On the scattering of light by small particles
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Source: Phil. Mag. 41, 447–454 (1871)
Title: On the transmission of light through an atmosphere containing small particles in suspension, and on the origin of the blue of the sky
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Source: ??? Phil. Mag. 47 , 375, 1899
Rayleigh: "On the electromagnetic theory of light" , Phil. Mag. 12, 81-101 (1881)
1847 - 1931 Thomas Edison - invents the incandescent light bulb
Title: (1880) Electric - Lamp
Language: English
Format: tiff, pdf
Source 1: USPTO - U.S. Patent № 223,898
Source 2: Google Patents -
1852 - 1931 Albert Michelson - 1. Describes the Michelson interferometer. 2. Describe unsuccessful attemps to detect the motion of the earth with respect to the 'Luminiferous Aether' by investigating whether the speed of light depends upon the direction in which the light beam moves (The Michelson-Morley experiment). 3. Performs a series of experiments to determine the speed of light using a rotating mirror method with a light path from the observatory at Mount Wilson to a reflector on Mount San Antonio, a distance of 22 miles. Obtains an average value of 299,796 km.s-1
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1857 - 1894 Heinrich Hertz - accidentally discovers the photoelectric effect
Title: (1887) Ueber einen Einfluss des ultravioletten Lichtes auf die electrische Entladung
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Source: Annalen der Physik, 267(8):983-1000, Juni, 1887
It was Philipp Lenard (1862-1947), an assistant of Hertz, who performed the earliest, definitive studies of the photoelectric effect.
1858 - 1947 Max Planck - in his explanation of the characteristics of the radiation emitted from a hot black body, Planck finds it necessary to introduce a universal constant described as the quantum of action, now known as Planck's constant. A consequence is that the energy of an oscillator is the sum of small discrete units, each of which has a value that is proportional to the frequency of oscillation
Title: (1901) On the law of distribution of energy in the normal spectrum
Language: English
Format: pdf
Source: Kyoto University - Annalen der Physik, vol. 4, p. 553 ff.
1862 - 1927 Otto Wiener (german Wiki) - observes standing waves in light reflected at normal incidence from a silver mirror. Nodes and antinodes in the standing wave are detected photographically and it is concluded that a node exists at the mirror surface. From this it is concluded that, at least as far as photographic effects are concerned, the electric component of the electomagnetic wave has the more important effect
Title: (1890) Stehende Lichtwellen und die Schwingungsrichtung polarisirten Lichtes
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Source: Ann. Phys. Chem. 38 (1890), 203-243
1863 - 1925 Alfred Perot - describe the Fabry-Perot interferometer
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1864 - 1928 Wilhelm Wien - describes how the spectral distribution of radiation from a black body varies with the temperature of the body
Title: (1896) Ueber die Energievertheilung im Emissionsspectrum eines schwarzen Körpers
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Source: Annalen der Physik, vol. 294, Issue 8, pp.662-669
?Annalen der Physik, 1896, v.38, p.662
1865 - 1943 Pieter Zeeman - observes that the spectral lines emitted by an atomic source are broadened when the source is placed in a magnetic field
Title: (1897) On the influence of Magnetism on the Nature of the Light emitted by a Substance
Language:English
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Source: The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System - Phil. Mag. 43: 226
1867 - 1945 Charles Fabry - describe the Fabry-Perot interferometer
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1869 - 1957 Gustav Mie - presents a description of light scattering from particles that are not small compared to the wavelength of light, taking account of particle shape and the difference in refractive index between the particles and the supporting medium
Title: (1908) Beiträge zur Optik trüber Medien, speziell kolloidaler Metallösungen
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Source: ??? - Annalen der Physik, 1908, Band 330 = No.3 T25, p.377-445
Alfred Clebsch: Ueber die Reflexion an einer Kugelfläche, Journal für Mathematik,. Band 61, 1863, Heft 3, p 195-262
Ludvig Lorenz: Lysbevaegelsen i og uden for en af plane Lysbolger belyst Kugle. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter, 6. Raekke, 6. Bind, 1890,1, p 1-62.
Ludvig Lorenz: Sur la lumière réfléchie et réfractée par une sphère (surface) transparente, In Œuvres scientifiques de L. Lorenz, revues et annotées par H. Valentiner. Tome Premier, Libraire Lehmann & Stage, Copenhague, 1898, p 403-529.
Peter Debye: Der Lichtdruck auf Kugeln von beliebigem Material. Annalen der
Physik, Vierte Folge, Band 30, 1909, No. 1, p 57-136.
1872 - 1950 Walter Geffcken - describes the transmission interference filter
Title: (1939) Interferenzlichtfilter
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Source: ??? - German Patent № 716,153
1879 - 1955 Albert Einstein - explains the photoelectric effect on the basis that light is quantized, the quanta subsequently becoming known as photons
Title: (1905) Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristischen Gesichtspunkt
Language: German
Format: pdf
Source: Österreichische Zentralbibliothek für Physik - Annalen der Physik 17, p.132-148, 1905
English translation: (1905) A Heuristic Model of the Creation and Transformation of Light
Source: Wikisource - partial translation
Russian translation:
Source: ??? -
1884 - 1966 Peter Debye - P Debye and F W Sears and also R Lucas and P Biquard independently observe the diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves
Title: (1932) On the Scattering of Light by Supersonic Waves
Language: English
Format: html, pdf
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Washington), 1932, v.18(6), p.409-414 - Debye & Sears
Title: (1932) Propriétés optiques des milieux solides et liquides soumis aux vibrations élastiques ultra sonores
Language: French
Format: pdf
Source: ??? - Journal de Physique et Le Radium, Vol. 3 No. 10 (octobre 1932), p.464 - Lucas & Biquard
1888 - 1970 Chandrasekhara Raman - observes weak ineleastic scattering of light from liquids, an effect that comes to be known as raman scattering
Title: (1928) A New Radiation
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Source: - Indian Journal of Physics, 1928, vol.2, p. 387
Title: (1928) A New Type of Secondary Radiation
Language: English
Format: html
Source: Jim Holler at University of Kentucky - Nature, 121(3048), 501, March 31, 1928
Scientific Papers of C.V. Raman - 6(7) volumes
1888 - 1966 Frits Zernike - describes the phase-contrast microscope
Title: (1942) Phase-contrast, a new method for microscopic observation of transparent objects. Part I
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Source: ??? - Physica: 9, 686-698 (1942)
Title: (1942) Phase-contrast, a new method for microscopic observation of transparent objects. Part II
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Source: ??? - Physica: 9, 974-986 (1942).
Title: (1955) How I discovered phase contrast
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Source: ??? - Science: 121, 345-349 (1955).
1900 - 1979 Dennis Gabor - describes the principles of wavefront reconstruction, later to become known as holography
Title: (1948) A new microscopic principle
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Source: - Nature; Vol. 161; 15 May 1948; pp. 777-778.
Title: (1949) Microscopy by Reconstructed Wavefronts
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Source: - Proc. Roy. Soc.; Vol. A197; London; England; 1949; pp. 454 – 487
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"Holography, 1948-1971", Science, 177, 1972, 299ff.
1902 - 1984 Paul Dirac - presents a method of representing the electromagnetic radiation field in quantized form
Title: (1927) p.243: The quantum theory of the emission and absorption of radiation
Title: (1927) p.710: The quantum theory of dispersion
Language: English
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Source: - Proceedings of the Royal Society A, vol.114, p.243-65, p.710-28, 1927
1909 - 1991 Edwin Land - invents "polaroid" polarizing film
Title: (1929) Polarizing refracting bodies
Language: English
Format: tiff, pdf
Source 1: USPTO - U.S. Patent № 1,918,848
Source 2: Google Patents -
???? - ???? Wilmer C. Anderson - measures the speed of light using a Kerr cell to modulate a light beam that passes through a Michelson interferometer. Obtains a value of 299,776 km.s-1
Title: (1937) A Measurement of the Velocity of Light
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Source: - Review of Scientific Instruments, 1937, Vol. 8, p.239-247
Title: (1941) Final measurements of the velocity of light
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Source: - Journal of the Optical Society of America, 1941, vol. 31, issue 3, p.187
1927 - 2007 Theodore Maiman - describes the first laser. The laser was built at the Hughes Research Laboratories and used a rod of synthetic ruby as the lasing medium
Title: (1960) Stimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby
Language: English
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Source: - Nature, 1960, v.187, p.493
U.S. Patent № 3,353,115
P A Franken, A E Hill, C W Peters and G Weinreich. Demonstrate harmonic generation from light by passing the pulse from a ruby laser through a quartz crystal
Ali Javan, W Bennett and Donald R Harriott (USA). Describe the first gas laser. Built at the Bell Laboratories, the lasing medium was a mixture of helium and neon and emitted at a wavelength of 1.15 um
GKN Patel(USA). Announces the development of the first carbon dioxide laser at Bell Laboratories
1934 - ???? William B Bridges - describes the development of the first argon ion laser at Hughes Research Laboratories
Title: (1964) Laser oscillation in singly ionized argon in visible spectrum
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Source: - Applied Phisics Letters 4:128-130, 1964, erratum: Applied Phisics Letters 5:39, 1964
Sorokin and J R Lankard. Build the first organic dye laser
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Benjamin Martin
Title: A new and compendious system of optics
Source: Google Books - missing pages
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1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_electromagnetism_and_classical_optics
2. http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/scales/scales.html
3. http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~ee428/detailedtimeline.html
4. http://srufaculty.sru.edu/ben.shaevitz/teaching/summer01/101pre/history-optics.htm
5. http://www.optics1.com/optics_history.php
6. http://www.regulusastro.com/regulus/papers/timeline/
7.
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* Ptolemy's Theory of Visual Perception
* The Arabic version of Euclid's optics, 2 vols
