His 1740s papers on optics helped ensure that the wave theory of light proposed by Christiaan Huygens would become the dominant mode of thought, at least until the development of the quantum theory of light.
Os seus traballos sobre óptica da década de 1740 axudaron a que a teoría ondulatoria da luz proposta por Christiaan Huygens chegara a ser a teoría que se impuxera, cando menos ata o desenvolvemento da teoría cuántica da luz.