Newton's prisms and his experiments on the spectrum
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20315564 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A A Mills (0000-0003-3056-7764, Department of Astronomy and History of Science, The University, Leicester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 13-36 |
| Publication date | 1981-08-31 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Notes and Records the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0035-9149 • E-ISSN: 1743-0178 |
| Publisher | The Royal Society (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1098/rsnr.1981.0002 |
| OpenAlex | W2060962066 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Sir, To perform my late promise to you, I shall without further ceremony acquaint you, that in the beginning of the Year 1666 (at which time I applyed my self to the grinding of Optick glasses of other figures than Spherical,) I procured me a Triangular glass-Prisme, to try therewith the celebrated Phaenomena of Colours . . . THUS did Isaac Newton (1642-1727, F.R.S. 1672, P.R.S. 1703-1727) introduce his celebrated letter to Oldenburg on the prismatic spectrum and the compound nature of white light (1). Its production was stimulated by the favourable reception given by the Royal Society to his reflecting telescope (2), which led to his election as a Fellow on 11 January 1672 (3). The letter appeared, almost unaltered, in the Philosophical Transactions for 19 February 1672 (4), and was Newton’s first scientific paper. It was soon joined by replies to objections raised by Pardies, Hooke, Huygens, Linus and Lucas (5), but his second major paper on light and colours— although read in parts to the Society during 1675 and 1676— was never published in the Phil. Trans
Art history · Physics · Political science · Quantum mechanics · Spectrum (functional analysis) · Classics · History · History of Science and Medicine · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2026 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |