Diagram relating to Alhazen's problem
Date
22 November 1670
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
vol4 p177
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 301mm
width (page): 178mm
width (page): 178mm
Subject
Description
Both Renatus Slusius and Christian Huygens were interested in the problem of finding a point of reflection on the surface of a spherical mirror in relation to two points, the eye and the visible object, attributed to Alhazen (the Latinised name of Ibn al-Haytham (965-1045)). The diagram, relating to this problem, is from Slusius’s letter to Oldenburg, in which he claimed that Huygens’s construction was the same as his. This letter was published by Oldenburg in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 8, no. 97 (October 1673), pp. 6119-22, together with a letter from Huygens.
This is copied from LBO/4/128. The diagram in the original letter is at EL/S1/66/004.
This is copied from LBO/4/128. The diagram in the original letter is at EL/S1/66/004.
Object history
Printed in C. Huygens and R. F. Slusius, 'Some letters exchanged between Monsieur Slusius and Monsieur Hugenius, about a considerable optic problem (the point of reflection in a concave and convex mirror) of Alhazen', Phil. Trans. vol. 8, no. 97 (October 1673), pp. 6119-26 (pp. 6119-22).
Related fellows
Renatus Franciscus Slusius (1622 - 1685, Belgian) , Mathematician
Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 2006, Dutch) , Natural philosopher
Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 2006, Dutch) , Natural philosopher
Associated place