Unpublished paper, 'On the number of primitive colorific rays into which white light may be separated' by Paul Cooper

Description

Cooper writes that though Newton divided the spectrum into seven different colours, philosophers believe the number of colours of 'primitive rays' is smaller. Cooper sets out to identify the colours of the primitive rays experimentally, directing a beam of sunlight into a dark room by a crevice 1/20th of an inch broad and then through a flint glass prism, and records his observations.

Includes two diagrams in the text relating to refraction of white light and the colours observed.

Subject: Physics / Optics

Received 23 January 1834. Communicated by J G [John George] Children.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 3 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On the number of primitive colorific rays into which white light may be separated'.

Reference number

AP/18/3

Earliest possible date

21 January 1834

Physical description

Ink on paper

Page extent

40 pages

Format

Manuscript