White, Rebekah C., Gasper, Giles E.M., McLeish, Tom C.B. orcid.org/0000-0002-2025-0299 et al. (5 more authors) (2021) Magnifying grains of sand, seeds, and blades of grass:Optical effects in robert grosseteste’s de iride (on the rainbow) (circa 1228–1230). ISIS. pp. 93-107. ISSN 1545-6994
Abstract
In his treatise On the Rainbow (De iride), composed nearly four hundred years before the first known telescope, the English polymath Robert Grosseteste identified three striking optical effects: distant objects can be rendered close by; close-by large objects can be rendered small; and distant small objects can be rendered large. In the context of the history of optics, the first effect is especially striking. Grosseteste did not give details of the mechanisms underlying these effects but did mention the passage of rays through refraction in “diaphanous” or transparent bodies. While making no final claim that Grosseteste himself necessarily knew of or used lenses, this essay examines the coherence between the three optical effects described in Grosseteste’s treatise and two candidate proposals for the deployment of a single convex lens. A convex lens, deployed in different ways, is shown to produce all three of Grosseteste’s optical effects, in a manner strikingly aligned with the language that he uses to distinguish changes in the location and size of objects. The implications of this coherence for interpretations of On the Rainbow are discussed throughout the essay.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 by The History of Science Society |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number AHRC AH/N001222/1 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 16 Apr 2021 09:10 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 17:30 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1086/713724 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1086/713724 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:173169 |
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