The Wave Theory of Light
by Lord Kelvin
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1884
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 30 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Harvard Classics, Volume 30P. F. Collier, 1910Prints the lecture alongside The Tides and the other scientific papers Eliot chose.
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A public lecture given in Philadelphia in 1884, in which the century's most famous British physicist explains why light must be understood as a wave in an elastic medium rather than a flight of particles. Kelvin reviews interference, polarisation and dispersion, insists on mechanical models a listener can picture, and is candid that the ether required is strange: rigid enough to carry transverse waves, thin enough to let the planets pass. The companion piece in the same volume, The Tides, applies the same taste for calculation and physical intuition to the pull of the moon on the sea.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Wave Theory of Light are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
