EULER'S WAVE-THEORY OF LIGHT

EULER, LEONHARD.

Essai d'une Explication physique des Couleurs engendrees sur des Surfaces extrémement minces. (Essay concerning the physical explanation of colors which are issued from extremely thin surfaces).

(Berlin, Haude et Spener, 1754). 4to. Without wrappers as extracted from "Mémoires de L'Academie Royale des Sciences et belles Lettres", Tome VIII, pp. 262-282.

First printing of Eulers's importent paper in which he defended the wave-theory of light in opposition to the newtonian corpuscular hypothesis.
Most of the scientists and philosophers of the 18th century defended the corpuscular theory of light, but Euler "being impressed by the notion that the emission of particles would cause a diminuation in the mass of the radiating body, which was not observed, while the emission of waves involved no such consequence...he insisted strongly on the resamblance between light and sound; the whole of the space through which the heavenly bodies move is filled with a subtle matter, the aether, and light consists in vibrations of this aether; 'light is the same thing as sound in air'....The chief novelty of Euler's writings on light is his explanation of the manner in which material bodies appear coloured when wieved with white light; and, in particular the way in which colours of thin plates are produced." (Whittaker,A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: pp. 97-98.). - Euler's worg comes here together with a paper by L'Abbe Mazeas on "Observations sur les Coleurs engendres par le Frottement des Surfaces plane et transparentes.". - Enestrom E:209.

Order-nr.: 40476