Ibn al-Haytham
Light & seeing
Pioneers
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Giovanni Francesco Sagredo
Discussion with Galileo about using a mirror as the image-forming objective of a telescope.
Ibn Sahl
Refraction, geometrical optics, and the design of lenses and mirrors that focus light.
Jim Al-Khalili
Science communication explaining Ibn Sahl and the law of refraction in a featured video.
René Descartes
Publication and explanation of the law of refraction in the creator’s account of its naming.
Thomas Harriot
An early modern formulation of refraction mentioned in the source’s chronology.
Willebrord Snell
The law of refraction as named in later European science, discussed in comparison with Ibn Sahl.