Watson B. Light: A Radiant History: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age

Bloomsbury, USA: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2016. — 304 p. — ISBN: 1620405598.Light begins at Stonehenge, where crowds cheer a solstice sunrise. After sampling myths explaining First Light, the story moves on to early philosophers' queries, then through the centuries, from Buddhist temples to Biblical scripture, when light was the soul of the divine.
Battling darkness and despair, Gothic architects crafted radiant cathedrals while Dante dreamed a "heaven of pure light." Later, following Leonardo's advice, Renaissance artists learned to capture light on canvas. During the Scientific Revolution, Galileo gathered light in his telescope, Descartes measured the rainbow, and Newton used prisms to solidify the science of optics. But even after Newton, light was an enigma. Particle or wave? Did it flow through an invisible "ether"? Through the age of Edison and into the age of lasers, Light reveals how light sparked new wonders–relativity, quantum electrodynamics, fiber optics, and more.
Although lasers now perform everyday miracles, light retains its eternal allure. "For the rest of my life," Einstein said, "I will reflect on what light is." Light explores and celebrates such curiosity.Part One
“This Light Is Come”: Myths of Creation and First Light
“The Thing You Call Light”: Early Philosophers from Greece to China
“The Highest Bliss”: The Millennium of Divine Radiance
“A Glass like a Glittering Star”: Islam’s Golden Age
“Bright Is the Noble Edifice”: Paradise in the Middle Ages
Chiaro e Scuro: Light and Dark on Canvas
“Investigate with Me What Light Is”: The Scientific Revolution and the Century of Celestial Light
“In My Darken’d Chamber”: Isaac Newton and Opticks
“A Wild and Harmonized Tune”: The Romantics and the Light Seductive
Part Two
Undulations: Particle vs. Wave
Lumière: France’s Dazzling Century
“Little Globe of Sunshine”: Electricity Conquers the Night
c: Einstein and the Quanta, Particle, and Wave
“Catching Up with Our Dreams”: Lasers and Other Everyday Wonders