The origins of the concept of interference.
The concept of interference is implicit in Newton's explanation of the anomaly of the tides in the Gulf of Tongkin, but Thomas Young was the first to generalize the principle and to apply it to compound tides, to auditory beats, and to the colours of thin films. In his Bakerian Lecture, delivered on 12 and 19 November 1801, he was able to accurately derive the wavelengths of particular hues from Newton's measurements of the colours of thin plates. The first printed statement of the generalized principle of interference appears in the Syllabus for his Royal Institution lectures, which was published early in 1802. His celebrated two-slit experiment is first described in his Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts of 1807.
Mollon
J D
JD
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
D004739:England; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D007368:Interferometry / Q000266:history*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000266:history*