Sir David BrewsterBorn 11 Dec 1781; died 10 Feb 1868 at age 86. Scottish physicist who is noted for his experimental work in optics and polarized light (light in which all waves lie in the same plane.) He is known for Brewster's Law, which relates the refractive index of a material to its polarizing angle (which is the incident angle at which reflected light becomes completely polarized). At 10 years old, a child prodigy, he constructed a telescope. In middle age, he patented the kaleidoscope (1817). Later, he used lenses to improve three-dimensional images viewed with a stereoscope. Brewster also recommended the use of the lightweight, flat Fresnel lens in lighthouses. |
