How the ray gun got its zap : odd excursions into optics / Stephen R. Wilk.

Author/creator Wilk, Stephen R.
Format Book
PublicationOxford : Oxford University Press, [2013]
Copyright Date©2013
Descriptionvi, 263 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Subjects
Optics.
Optics--History.
Optics--Biography.
Optics--Social aspects. --History.

Contents History. Ancient optics : magnification without lenses ; The solar weapon of Archimedes ; Claudius Ptolemy's law of refraction ; Antonio de Ulloa's mystery ; The miracle of St. Gascoigne ; Rays of the sun ; Roy G. Biv ; George Christoph Lichtenberg ; Hopkinson's silk handkerchief ; First light : Thomas Melville and the beginnings of spectroscopy ; Mediocrity and illumination ; Even if you can't draw a straight line ; A sea change ; Thomas Pearsall and the ultraviolet ; If at first you don't succeed ; More than a burner ; Apply light pressure ; Sound movies, the World's Fair, and stellar spectroscopy ; Déjà vu ; The magic lantern of Omar Khayyam -- Weird science. The yellow sun paradox ; Once in a blue moon ; Chromatic dispersions ; The eye in the spiral ; Retroreflectors ; Yes, I was right! It is obvious! ; Edible lasers ; Pyrotechnic lasers ; Defunct lasers ; The phantom laser ; The case of the oily mirrors : a locked room mystery ; Pinhole glasses ; Undulations -- Pop culture. This is your cat on lasers ; Dord ; Zap! ; Mystic cameras ; Playing with light ; I must find that tractor beam ; The rise and fall and rise of the Starbow ; Diamonds in the dark ; A popular history of the laser ; Pop culture errors in optics ; Pop spectrum ; The telephote.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references.
LCCN 2013009902
ISBN9780199948017 (acid-free paper)
ISBN0199948011 (acid-free paper)
Standard identifier# 40022775243

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks QC361 .W55 2013 ✔ Available Place Hold