The Rise of the Wave Theory of Light: Optical Theory and Experiment in the Early Nineteenth Century

by Jed Z. Buchwald

Overview

"No one interested in the history of optics, the history of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century physics, or the general phenomenon of theory change in science can afford to ignore Jed Buchwald's well-structured, highly detailed, and scrupulously researched book. . . . Buchwald's analysis will surely constitute the essential starting point for further work on this important and hitherto relatively neglected episode of theory change."—John Worrall, Isis

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226078847
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	01/04/1989
Series:	New Plan Texts at the University of Chicago Ser.
Edition description:	1
Pages:	498
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jed Z. Buchwald is associate professor in the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto. He is the author of From Maxwell to Microphysics, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1 - Selectionism
1. The Optical Ray
2. The Concept of Polarization
3. Arago and the Discovery of Chromatic Polarization
4. Mobile Polarization
Part 2 - Fresnel, Diffraction, and Polarization
5. Fresnel's Ray Theory of Diffraction
6. Huygen's Principle and the Wave Theory
7. The Puzzle of Polarization
8. Transverse Waves
Part 3 - Controversy and Unification
9. A Case of Mutual Misunderstanding
10. Selectionists and Polarization after 1815
11. Fresnel's Final Unification
12. The Emerging Dominance of the Wave Theory
Appendixes
Notes
References
Name Index
Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

Buchwald (history of science, U. of Toronto) contends, contrary to general assumptions, that a historical distinction exists between the wave theory's physical and mathematical aspects. His analysis begins in the 1810s, before the wave theory was widely accepted. Much of French optics of this period distinguished between the light particle and the optical ray and achieved a number of striking successes. Revising standard interpretations of the wave theory's acceptance, Buchwald argues that this theory became coherent and entirely new only in the work of French physicist Austin Fresnel. The paper edition was cited in the March issue of UPBN. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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