Contact Us Search Home Introduction Optics is the physical science that studies the origin and propagation of light, how it changes, what effects it produces, and other phenomena associated with it. There are two branches of optics.
Physical optics is concerned with the nature and properties of light itself.
Geometrical optics deals with the principles governing image-forming properties of lenses, mirror, and other devices, such as optical data processors. Prehistory to 999 - Thousands of years after humans started using fire to illuminate the night, Greek and Arab scholars begin to formulate theories of how light is propagated, how it can be reflected and refracted, and how it is perceived by the eyes. 1000 to 1599 - Arab and Chinese scholars experiment with light, lenses, and mirrors for several hundred years, but interest wanes. In Medieval Europe, Copernicus launches the scientific revolution with his shocking theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. 1700 to 1799 - Newton publishes Opticks , discussing the corpuscular theory of light, scientists establish procedures for the scientific method, Herschel discovers Uranus, and a few scientists begin to study electricity.