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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished letter, 'On a new property of light possessed by the second surfaces of transparent bodies' from David Brewster to Sir Joseph Banks

Reference number: AP/8A/4

Date: 09 January 1815

Description

Brewster describes a discovery he made during his experiments on light that is reflected from the second surfaces of transparent bodies, finding that this reflected light is polar. He explains this property in detail and includes experimental results.

Subject: Physics

Read to the Royal Society on 23 January 1815.

Reference number
AP/8A/4
Earliest possible date
09 January 1815
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
4 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

David Brewster

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Citation

David Brewster, Unpublished letter, 'On a new property of light possessed by the second surfaces of transparent bodies' from David Brewster to Sir Joseph Banks, 09 January 1815, AP/8A/4, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_8a_4/unpublished-letter-on-a-new-property-of-light-possessed-by-the-second-surfaces-of-transparent-bodies-from-david-brewster-to-sir-joseph-banks, accessed on 19 January 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_8a_4/unpublished-letter-on-a-new-property-of-light-possessed-by-the-second-surfaces-of-transparent-bodies-from-david-brewster-to-sir-joseph-banks

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  • Archived Papers

    Dates: 1768-1989

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

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