A Critical Edition of Ibn al-Haytham's On the Shape of the Eclipse: The First Experimental Study of the Camera Obscura

by Dominique Raynaud

Overview

This book provides the first critical edition of Ibn al-Haytham’s On the Shape of the Eclipse with English translation and commentary, which records the first scientific analysis of the camera obscura. On the Shape of the Eclipse includes pioneering research on the conditions of formation of the image, in a time deemed to be committed to aniconism. It also provides an early attempt to merge the two branches of Ancient optics—the theory of light and theory of vision.

What perhaps most strongly characterizes this treatise is the close interaction of a geometric analysis of light and experimental reasoning. Ibn al-Haytham conducted his experiments in a systematic way by varying all that could be changed: the shape and size of the aperture, the focal length of the camera obscura, the distance and shape of the celestial bodies. This way, he achieved a thorough understanding. This work represents a decisive step in both the history of optics and the application of the experimental method that was just as efficient in medieval Islam as today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319838748
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	05/05/2018
Series:	Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016
Pages:	305
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dominique Raynaud is a science historian at the Université of Grenoble Alpes, France. He has published extensively in the field, including Optics and the Rise of Perspective. A Study in Network Knowledge Diffusion (Oxford, 2014), Scientific Controversies. A Socio-historical Perspective on the Advancement of Science (New Brunswick, 2015) and Studies on Binocular Vision (Springer, 2016).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.- Introduction.- 1. This Edition.- 2. Arabic Text and Translation.- 3. Ibn al-Haytham's Method.- 4. Ibn al-Haytham's Optical Analysis.- Appendix. A tentative Dating of On the Shape of the Eclipse.- References.- Index Nominum.- Index Rerum.- Arabic-English Glossary.- Table of Figures.- Plates.