Article ID: CBB000954822

The Analogy between Light and Sound in the History of Optics from the Ancient Greeks to Isaac Newton. Part 1 (2010)

unapi

Analogies between hearing and seeing already existed in ancient Greek theories of perception. The present paper follows the evolution of such analogies until the rise of 17th century optics, with due regard to the diversity of their origins and nature but with particular emphasis on their bearing on the physical concepts of light and sound. Whereas the old Greek analogies were only side effects of the unifying concepts of perception, the analogies of the 17th century played an important role in constructing optical theories by imitation of acoustic theories, or vice versa. This transition depended on several factors including the changing relations between optics, music, mathematics, and physics, the diversity of early modern concepts of sound, and the rise of a new physics based on experimentation and mechanical explanation.

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Description Focus is on the physical concepts of light and sound.


Associated with

Article Darrigol, Olivier (2010) The Analogy between Light and Sound in the History of Optics from the Ancient Greeks to Isaac Newton. Part 2. Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (p. 206). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000954822/

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Authors & Contributors
Smith, A. Mark
Darrigol, Olivier
Thomas C. B. McLeish
da Bologna, Bartolomeo
Richard G. Bower
Tanner, Brian K.
Concepts
Light
Optics
Metaphors; analogies
Physics
Natural philosophy
Eyes; sight organs
Time Periods
Medieval
Ancient
17th century
Early modern
19th century
18th century
Places
Greece
Europe
England
Italy
France
Rome (Italy)
Institutions
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā (Brethren of Purity)
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