Light : a radiant history, from creation to the quantum age

Watson, Bruce 1953- (author.).

Summary: "Delving into mythology, religion, philosophy, painting, and science, 'Light' captures the wonder and awe of humanity's study of light across three millennia of discovery"--Front jacket flap.

Record details

ISBN: 9781620405611
ISBN: 1620405598
ISBN: 9781620405598
Physical Description: xiv, 282 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm
print
Publisher: New York, NY : Bloomsbury, 2016.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [229]-271) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

"This light is come" : myths of creation and first light -- "The thing you call light" : early philosophers from Greece to China -- :The highest bliss" : the millennium of divine radiance -- "A glass like a glittering star" : Islam's Golden Age -- "Bright is the noble edifice" : paradise in the Middle Ages -- Chiaro e scuro : light and dark on canvas -- "Investigate with me what light is" : the Scientific Revolution and the Century of Celestial Light -- "In my darken'd chamber" : Isaac Newton and "Opticks" -- "A wild and harmonized tune" : the Romantics and the light seductive -- Undulations : particle vs. wave -- Lumière : France's dazzling century -- "Little globe of sunshine" : electricity conquers the night -- c: Einstein and the quanta, particle, and wave -- "Catching up with our dreams" : lasers and other everyday wonders.