Opticks

BeforeNewtoncompletedhismasterpiece，ThePrincipiaMathematica，hehadestablishedhisreputationwiththistreatiseonthepropertiesoflight.Thoughonanarrowertopic，thisworkisasimpressiveinitsownrightasThePrincipia，foritprovidedascientificanalysisoflightthatbecamethebasisofourmodernunderstanding.Basedonexperimentsinwhichabeamoflightwaspassedthroughaprism，Newtonshowedthatwhitelightwascomplexandcouldbeanalyzedasablendofthevariouscolorsofthespectrum.Dividedintothreebooks，thefirstdescribeshisexperimentswiththespectrum.Theseconddealswiththeringphenomenon，inwhichconcentricringsofcolorsappearinthethinlayerofairseparatingalensandanunderlyingplateofglass.Thethirdbookdescribeshisworkondiffraction.AlsodiscussedisNewton'stheorythatlightconsistsbasicallyof"materialcorpuscles"inmotion.Thoughclearlyintendedforfellowscientiststhisclassicmonumentofmodernphysicsissurprisinglyreadableandunderstandablefornonspecialists.