Pierre Bouguer's Optical Treatise on The Gradation of Light / / W.E.K. Middleton.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Middleton, W.E.K.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2019]; ©1961
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (265 p.)

In 1760 the first edition of the Traite d’optique sur la gradation de la lumiere of Pierre Bouguer was published posthumously. Bouguer (1698-1758), French mathematician, professor of hydrography, and author of works on the theory of navigation, can also be considered the inventor of photometry, and the Traite was his definitive word on the subject. It has become one of the classic treatises of science, but even in French has long been unavailable. The last part of the work is remarkable for having anticipated the modern theory of the visibility of objects in a horizontal direction through the atmosphere. Dr. Middleton’s translation is accompanied by explanatory notes and a biographical and critical introduction. The book will be of interested to those working in the field of optics and to students of the history of science.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Introduction -- Contents -- Publisher's note -- Extracts from the Registers of the Royal Academy of Sciences,July 26th, 1758, and March 31st, 1759 -- Bouguer's contents -- BOOK ONE: Various Means of Measuring Light, with Several Applications of These -- BOOK TWO: Researches on the Quantity of Light Reflected by Surfaces Both Polished and Rough -- BOOK THREE: Researches on the Transparency and Opacity of Bodies -- Appendix