From: Jim Al-Khalili
Science in a Golden
Age - Optics: The True Nature of Light
Published on Oct 6, 2015
Playing a vital role in our everyday lives, technologies based on light are in use all around us. From art and science to modern technology, the study of light - and how behaves and interacts with matter has intrigued scientists for over a century.The year 2015, marked the 1,000th anniversary of the Kitab al-Manazir (The Book of Optics), a seven-volume treatise written by the Iraqi scientist Ibn al-Haytham - a pioneering thinker who's views have been crucial to our understanding of how the universe came into existence.Shaping our understanding of vision, optics and light, Ibn al-Haytham interrogated theories of light put forward by the Greeks - men like Plato and Euclid who argued that the way we see objects is by shining light out of our eyes onto them. Ibn al-Haytham argued instead, and correctly, that the way we see is by light entering our eyes from outside either reflecting off objects or directly from luminous bodies like candles or the sun.His methodology of investigation, in which he combined theory and experiments, were also remarkable for their emphasis on proof and evidence.In the first episode of Science in the Golden Age, theoretical physicist, Jim al-Khalili, looks at state-of-the-art applications of optics and traces the science of light back to the medieval Islamic world.Al-Khalili recreates Ibn al-Haytham's famous 'camera obscura' experiment with stunning results and also uncovers the work of Ibn Sahl, a mathematician and physicist associated with the Abbasid court of Baghdad. According to a recently discovered manuscript, he correctly described "Snell's law of refraction" centuries before Dutch astronomer Willebrord Snellius was even born.We also look at the work of Ibn Mu'adh, who brought together knowledge of optics and geometry in order to estimate the height of the atmosphere.
From <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQmHzY29Zc>
Ibn Sahl is another prominent Arab and Muslim scientist who is now credited (see documentary clip above) with the discovery of the Law of Refraction.
Reproduction of a page of Ibn Sahl's manuscript showing his discovery of the law of refraction (from Rashed, 1990). Source of Image: Wikipedia entry on Ibn Sahl.
Ibn Sahl is another prominent Arab and Muslim scientist who is now credited (see documentary clip above) with the discovery of the Law of Refraction.
Reproduction of a page of Ibn Sahl's manuscript showing his discovery of the law of refraction (from Rashed, 1990). Source of Image: Wikipedia entry on Ibn Sahl.
Sources for Further Reading
Vernet, J., “Ibn al-Hayt̲h̲am”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 19 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3195>
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004161214, 1960-2007
Zghal, Mourad; et al. (2007). "The first steps for learning optics: Ibn Sahl's, Al- Haytham's and Young's works on refraction as typical examples" (PDF). The Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference. International Commission for Optics: 3. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
