What is recorded here?
The angle at which reflected light is most strongly polarized is connected to refractive index. Brewster compared transparent materials and related the tangent of the polarizing angle to their index. He also connected this angle with a right angle between reflected and refracted rays. The work turned a qualitative optical effect into a quantitative relation that can be checked with geometry and material properties.
Source-linked catalogue note. A detailed explanatory guide has not yet been prepared for this entry.
Scientific scope
A clean, suitably transparent interface and the chosen wavelength matter; damaged surfaces, absorbing materials and dispersion limit simple applications. The original distinguishes complete polarization from maximum polarization in some high-index materials. Its speculative reflecting-force explanation and all its multiple-reflection rules are not adopted here. Malus earlier reflection-polarization discovery remains separate. Banks received the letter and is not a coauthor. The letter is signed 11 February 1815; the Society read it 16 March 1815.
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People and systems
David Brewster
Source-listed authors for the exact contribution; experimental subjects are not autonomous scientific authors. Source support and predecessor work retain separate roles. Individual effort shares and unresolved identities are not inferred.
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Documented countries / regions: United Kingdom
Letter signed Edinburgh,11February1815; a paper-associated location, not an exhaustive reconstruction of every experiment. No nationality, ownership or effort share inferred.
English catalogue narrative
Brewster: connecting the polarizing angle to refractive index
The angle at which reflected light is most strongly polarized is connected to refractive index. Brewster compared transparent materials and related the tangent of the polarizing angle to their index. He also connected this angle with a right angle between reflected and refracted rays. The work turned a qualitative optical effect into a quantitative relation that can be checked with geometry and material properties.
Scientific scope
A clean, suitably transparent interface and the chosen wavelength matter; damaged surfaces, absorbing materials and dispersion limit simple applications. The original distinguishes complete polarization from maximum polarization in some high-index materials. Its speculative reflecting-force explanation and all its multiple-reflection rules are not adopted here. Malus earlier reflection-polarization discovery remains separate. Banks received the letter and is not a coauthor. The letter is signed 11 February 1815; the Society read it 16 March 1815.
Reading status
This is a source-linked WRS catalogue note. A full explanatory guide and independent scientific reconstruction have not been completed for this entry. Read the identified original work for its complete narrative and arguments.
People and systems
David Brewster
Source-listed authors for the exact contribution; experimental subjects are not autonomous scientific authors. Source support and predecessor work retain separate roles. Individual effort shares and unresolved identities are not inferred.