| Description | Manuscript of the historical memorandum by Augustin Fresnel and Jean Francois Arago on the history of research on polarisation for Encyclopaedia Britannica 4th to 6th supplements, Vol 6 (1824), 838-863. Sent to Young for translation and edition.
Last page available at MS/242/14.
Considers [Christian] Huygens the first to work on double refraction, cites the work of [Étienne-Louis] Malus, [David] Brewster, [Jean-Baptiste] Biot, placing Arago and Fresnel's own work in historical perspective and considering they are the only ones to have worked on polarisation and interference. Also includes experimental conclusions on polarisation and colours Details the instruments and materials used in experiments, as well as experiments themselves. |