Catoptrics
{{Short description|Study of the relationship between light and mirrors}}
Image:Telescope newton schema.png
Catoptrics (from {{langx|grc|κατοπτρικός}} katoptrikós, "specular",{{Cite book |last=Jannaris |first=Antonius Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Concise_Dictionary_of_the_English_and.html?id=VuwNAAAAIAAJ |title=A Concise Dictionary of the English and Modern Greek Languages: As Actually Written and Spoken : English-Greek |date=1895 |publisher=J. Murray |language=el}} from {{langx|grc|κάτοπτρον}} katoptron "mirror"){{Cite web | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dka%2Ftoptron | title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, κάτοπτρον | access-date=2015-03-13}} deals with the phenomena of reflected light and image-forming optical systems using mirrors. A catoptric system is also called a catopter (catoptre).
History
= Ancient Texts =
Catoptrics is the title of two texts from ancient Greece:
- The Pseudo-Euclidean Catoptrics. This book is attributed to Euclid,{{Cite web |last=Calvert |first=J.B. |date=2000 |title=Reading Euclid |url=https://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/nugreek/contents.htm |access-date=23 October 2007 |website=Duke University}} although the contents are a mixture of work dating from Euclid's time together with work which dates to the Roman period.{{MacTutor Biography|id=Theon}}, accessed 31 January 2013 It has been argued that the book may have been compiled by the 4th century mathematician Theon of Alexandria. The book covers the mathematical theory of mirrors, particularly the images formed by plane and spherical concave mirrors.
- Hero's Catoptrics. Written by Hero of Alexandria, this work concerns the practical application of mirrors for visual effects. In the Middle Ages, this work was falsely ascribed to Ptolemy. It only survives in a Latin translation.A. Mark Smith, (1999), Ptolemy and the Foundations of Ancient Mathematical Optics, pages 16-17. American Philosophical Society. {{ISBN|0871698935}}
The Latin translation of Alhazen's (Ibn al-Haytham) main work, Book of Optics (Kitab al-Manazir),{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAPN_3w4hAUC |title=A Source Book in Medieval Science |date=1974 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-82360-0 |pages=392 |language=en}} exerted a great influence on Western science: for example, on the work of Roger Bacon, who cites him by name.{{Sfn|Lindberg|1996|p=11|ps=passim}} His research in catoptrics (the study of optical systems using mirrors) centred on spherical and parabolic mirrors and spherical aberration. He made the observation that the ratio between the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant, and investigated the magnifying power of a lens. His work on catoptrics also contains the problem known as "Alhazen's problem".{{Sfn|Al Deek|2004}} Alhazen's work influenced Averroes' writings on optics,{{CN|date=October 2022}} and his legacy was further advanced through the 'reforming' of his Optics by Persian scientist Kamal al-Din al-Farisi (d. ca. 1320) in the latter's Kitab Tanqih al-Manazir (The Revision of [Ibn al-Haytham's] Optics).{{Sfn|El-Bizri|2005a}}{{Sfn|El-Bizri|2005b}}
= Renaissance =
16th-century Jewish-Ferraresi physicist Rafael Mirami wrote a treatise on the subject, Compendiosa introduttione alla prima parte della specularia, which became influential in a revival of the field, and contributed towards Pope Gregory XIII's astronomical calculations that led to the creation of the Gregorian Calendar.{{Cite book |last=Sebastian |first=Matias de Aguierre y |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7ddAAAAcAAJ |title=Navidad de Zaragoza repartida en quatro noches |publisher=Juan de Ybar |year=1654 |pages=48 |language=es}}{{Cite book |last=Sachar |first=Abram Leon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=axYr8im9gqcC |title=Brandeis University: A Host at Last |date=1995 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-0-87451-585-5 |pages=115 |language=en}}
Catoptric telescopes
The first practical catoptric telescope (the "Newtonian reflector") was built by Isaac Newton as a solution to the problem of chromatic aberration exhibited in telescopes using lenses as objectives (dioptric telescopes).
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{Citation |last=El-Bizri |first=Nader |title=A Philosophical Perspective on Alhazen's Optics |date=2005a |author-link=Nader El-Bizri |journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=189–218 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S0957423905000172 |s2cid=123057532}}
- {{Citation |last=El-Bizri |first=Nader |title=Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia |date=2005b |author-link=Nader El-Bizri |pages=237–40 |contribution=Ibn al-Haytham |location=New York & London |publisher=Routledge |editor-last=Wallis |editor-first=Faith |isbn=0-415-96930-1 |oclc=218847614}}
- {{Citation |last=Al Deek |first=Dr. Mahmoud |year=2004 |title=Ibn Al-Haitham: Master of Optics, Mathematics, Physics and Medicine |journal=Al Shindagah |issue=November–December 2004 |url=http://www.alshindagah.com/novdec2004/ibn.html |access-date=2013-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617021504/http://www.alshindagah.com/novdec2004/ibn.html |archive-date=2008-06-17 |url-status=dead}}
- {{citation |last1=Grant |first1=Edward |title=A Source Book in Medieval Science |date=1974 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-82360-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fAPN_3w4hAUC |language=en}}
- {{Citation|last=Lindberg|first=David C.|title=Roger Bacon and the Origins of Perspectiva in the Middle Ages|date=1996|publisher=Clarendon Press}}
{{Ancient Greek mathematics}}