Optics

Optics

Published: 2002

In the Genius Arab Civilization, A. I Sabra stated, “Ibn al-Haytham’s most important contributions were in the fields of Optics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. His most important single work is the comprehensive Kitab al-Manazir (The Book of Optics).

Ibn Al-Haitham

Until the revival of optics in Persia toward the end of the 13th century, the Islamic world knew Ibn Al-Haytham mainly as a mathematician and astronomer. Still, his best-known and most influential work in Europe was the Optics. Based largely on his book, George Sarton described Ibn Al-Haytham as “the greatest Muslim physicist and one of the greatest students of optics of all time.”

Other optical subjects of Ibn Al-Haytham include: “On the Light of the Moon, ” which argues that the moon shines like a self-luminous object, though its light is borrowed from the Sun; On the Halo and Rainbow; On Spherical Burning Mirrors; On Paraboloidal Burning Mirrors; and On the Shape of Eclipse, which examines the camera obscura phenomenon.

The Invention of the Camera Obscura Model: Ibn-al-Haytham and his student Kamal ad-Din teamed up, making history when they first observed and recorded the Obscura phenomenon. Webster’s Dictionary defines the Obscura phenomenon as a “dark chamber.” It is usually a cardboard box with a tiny pinhole, which laid the groundwork for the camera.

What is Taught: Isaac Newton’s 17th-century study of lenses, light, and prisms forms the foundation of the modern science of optics.
What Should be Taught: In the 11th century, al-Haytham developed much of what Newton later advanced in optics and is widely regarded as the “founder of optics.”

There is little doubt that he influenced Newton. Al-Haytham was the most quoted physicist of the Middle Ages. European scholars used and quoted his works more than those of Newton and Galileo combined during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Al-Haytham’s Math work

What is Taught: In the 17th century, Isaac Newton discovered that white light consists of various rays of colored light.
What Should Be Taught: Al-Haytham (11th century) and Kamal ad-Din (14th century) made this discovery in its entirety. Newton did make original discoveries, but this was not one of them.

What is Taught: The English scholar Roger Bacon (d. 1292) first mentioned glass lenses for improving vision. At nearly the same time, people in both China and Europe used eyeglasses.
What Should Be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented eyeglasses in the 9th century, and people manufactured and sold them throughout Spain for over two centuries.
Roger Bacon’s mention of eyeglasses was simply a regurgitation of al-Haytham’s (d. 1039) work, which Bacon frequently referenced.