Light in a different light

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Light in a different light
From cavemen to Newton
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This seminar series
http//eee.uci.edu/06f/87568
Eric Potma Natural Sciences II, room
1107 epotma_at_uci.edu
1. From cavemen to Newton earliest ideas about
light 2. Particles and Waves what is
wave-particle duality? 3. Blue Skies, Rainbows
and Thunder Storms the optics of weather 4. The
Optics of Vision how the eye really works 5.
Optical Microscopy seeing the micro-cosmos with
ones own eyes 6. Star Wars Optics the truth
about lasers 7. Fast Light, Slow Light how
materials influence the propagation of light 8.
Light Bits CDs, optical fibers and
telecommunication 9. Ultrafast Light seeing
molecules move with flashes of light.
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Elusive messengers
Light allows us to see objects, but can we see
light itself?
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Light in Egypt
Light is the sight of God
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Leucippus
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Eidolon
How does eidolon stay intact? How can big eidola
fit through eyes aperture? Why cant we see
eidola in the dark? Why can we see only front
surfaces of objects?
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Empedocles
Why cant we see in the dark? How fast are the
visual rays? How can the ray be wide and narrow
simultaneously?
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Platos fire
And of the organs they first contrived the eyes
to give light, and the principle according to
which they were inserted is as follows. So much
of fire as would not burn, but gave gentle light,
they formed into a substance akin to the light of
everyday life, and the pure fire which is within
us and related to it they made to flow through
the eyes in a stream smooth and dense,
compressing the whole eye and specially the
center part, so that it kept out everything of a
coarser nature and allowed to pass only its pure
element.
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Euclidian rays
Lines drawn from the eye pass through space of
great extent
Form of space included within our vision is a
cone, with its apex in the eye and its base at
the limits of our vision
Those things on which vision falls are seen, and
those things upon which vision does not fall are
not seen
Things seen within a larger angle appear larger,
things seen with a smaller angle appear smaller
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Euclidian rays
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Euclidian rays
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Diocles rays
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Archimedes mirror
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Heros rays
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Ptomely
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End of visual rays
There is no vision unless something comes from
the visible object to the eye, whether of not
anything goes out
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Light and eyes
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Lenses to help the eye
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Lenses to help the eye
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Lenses to help the eye
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Lenses to help the eye
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Lenses to help the eye
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Lenses to help the eye