Opticks
Newton's experimental study of light, color, and diffraction.
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Opticks is a collection of three books by Isaac Newton that analyzes light through refraction, diffraction, and color mixtures.[1] The work was published in English in 1704, with a scholarly Latin translation appearing in 1706.[1] Newton's name did not appear on the cover page of the first edition.[1]
Making and release
Newton set forth experiments on dispersion first reported to the Royal Society of London in 1672.[2] Instead, axioms define technical terms and propositions are demonstrated through specific experiments.[3] He concluded Opticks with a set of unanswered questions called queries in Book III.[4] The first edition contained sixteen queries, increased to twenty-three in the 1706 Latin edition.[5]
The revised English edition of 1717–18 also contained twenty-three queries.[5] The content of Opticks consists mainly of experimental records and the conclusions drawn from them, addressing numerous subjects that would later be categorized as physical optics.[1] By issuing Opticks in English instead of Latin, Newton helped foster the growth of scientific writing in vernacular languages.[6] In contrast to the Principia, Opticks does not employ geometric propositions that are proven through deductive reasoning.[3]
Newton had planned a fourth book for Opticks concerning action at a distance, but this was ultimately omitted from the published work.[4]
What the cited sources add
John Tyndall wrote in 1880 that Goethe found one hole in Newton's armor.[7] Newton's own words describe leaving off glass-works because light is a heterogeneous mixture of differently refrangible rays.[7] This led Newton to conclude that telescope object-glasses would always be flawed, since he considered achromatism and refraction to be mutually exclusive.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Opticks" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newton, "Opticks: or, a treatise of the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light. Also two treatises of the species and magnitude of curvilinear figures.", Octavo, 1998 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Opticks" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newton, "Hydrostatics, Optics, Sound and Heat" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Opticks" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thompson, "Colour Vision", Routledge, 2003-09-02, p. 6 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Opticks" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: James, "Stephen Hales' "Statical Way"", History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 1985, p. 287–299 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Opticks" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: James, "Stephen Hales' "Statical Way"", History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 1985, p. 287–299; Buchwald, "Isaac Newton's Natural Philosophy", MIT Press, 2001; James, "Stephen Hales' "Statical Way"", History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 1985, p. 287–299 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Opticks" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newton, "The optical papers of Isaac Newton", Cambridge university press, 2021, p. xv (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Popular Science Monthly/Volume 17/July 1880)http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_17/July_1880/Goethe's_Farbenlehre:_Theory_of_Colors_II. facts only, no text reused. en.wikisource.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Opticks (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Opticks (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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