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visible spectrum of light Sun Pythagoras Roger Bacon Galileo: telescope René Descartes angle of incidence and angle of reflection reflection of light in a mirror diffuse reflection of light law of refraction
For Students
prism spreading light
light summary
Quizzes
Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950.
Physics and Natural Law
Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi at work in the wireless room of his yacht Electra, c. 1920.
All About Physics Quiz
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes
Related Questions
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Aerial view of Tokyo, Japan at dusk circa 2009. Tokyo Tower (right) located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Office buildings, architecture, skyscrapers, skyline.
Is Light Pollution Really Pollution?
Hot-air balloon against a sky (clouds, hot air ballooning, recreation)
Why Is the Sky Blue?
Light refraction image with a cube. Prism
How Is Light Both a Particle and a Wave?
Highway Night Traffic Portland, drive, driving, car, automobile.
What's the Difference Between Speed and Velocity?
July, 2006, Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-121. See attached for full caption information.
Will Light-Speed Space Travel Ever Be Possible?
Discover
Julius Caesar in full Gaius Julius Caesar (100? BCE-44 BCE) statue in Rimini, Italy. Roman general and statesman and dictator
The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates
Aphrodite. Greek mythology. Sculpture. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
12 Greek Gods and Goddesses
A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
Artist interpretation of a Space meteoroid impact. Meteor impact. Asteroid, End of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Planet Earth, Doomsday Predictions, comet
10 Failed Doomsday Predictions
Stylish light blue jeans on wooden background, closeup of inset pocket
Why Do Jeans Have That Tiny Pocket?
Solar eclipse of the sun.
The Sun Was Eaten: 6 Ways Cultures Have Explained Eclipses
Periodical Cicada, Adult, Magicicada spp. Requires 17 years to complete development. Nymph splits its skin, and transforms into an adult. Feeds on sap of tree roots. Northern Illinois Brood. This brood is the largest emergence of cicadas anywhere
Why Do Some Cicadas Appear Only Every 17 Years?

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Facts

Also Known As visible spectrum • visible radiation • optical spectrum

Photos and Videos

visible spectrum of light
Sun
Pythagoras
Roger Bacon
Galileo: telescope
René Descartes
angle of incidence and angle of reflection
reflection of light in a mirror
diffuse reflection of light
law of refraction
The discovery of light's wave-particle duality
Understand how diffraction of light affects stellar images
Why do stars look pointy to humans?
What would traveling at light speed really look like?
Understand the concept of teleportation and how quantum mechanics makes photon teleportation possible
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
English physicist and mathematician
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
German-American physicist
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell
Scottish mathematician and physicist
Ptolemy
Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon
English philosopher and scientist
illustration of Robert Hooke's law of elasticity of materials
Robert Hooke
British scientist
Fresnel, detail of an engraving by Ambroise Tardieu after a contemporary portrait, 1825
Augustin-Jean Fresnel
French physicist
Edwin Herbert Land
American inventor and physicist
Thomas Young, engraving
Thomas Young
British physician and physicist
Arago, François
François Arago
French physicist
Johann Lambert, detail of a lithograph by Gottfried Englemann, after a portrait by Pierre-Roch Vigneron
Johann Heinrich Lambert
Swiss-German scientist and philosopher
Sir David Brewster
Scottish physicist
Pyotr Nikolayevich Lebedev
Pyotr Nikolayevich Lebedev
Russian physicist
Sir Frank Dyson, 1927.
Sir Frank Dyson
British astronomer
Gullstrand
Allvar Gullstrand
Swedish ophthalmologist
Malus, engraving by A. Tardieu after a painting
Étienne-Louis Malus
French physicist
Hendrik Anthony Kramers
Dutch physicist

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes
Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950.
Physics and Natural Law
Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi at work in the wireless room of his yacht Electra, c. 1920.
All About Physics Quiz
Demystified
Hot-air balloon against a sky (clouds, hot air ballooning, recreation)
Why Is the Sky Blue?
Aerial view of Tokyo, Japan at dusk circa 2009. Tokyo Tower (right) located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Office buildings, architecture, skyscrapers, skyline.
Is Light Pollution Really Pollution?