Al-Kindi's De aspectibus: Arabic geometrical optics
De aspectibus de al-Kindi: óptica geométrica árabe
- Date
- c. 850 · confidence medium
- Place
- Baghdad, Iraq
- Credited to
- Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
Al-Kindi develops Euclid's geometrical optics in a treatise on the rectilinear propagation of light, perspective and mirrors, and criticises pure emission theories of vision. It is the first major optics of the Islamic world, preceding Alhazen.
The Arabic original is lost; it is known from Gerard of Cremona's 12th-century Latin version.
What it led to
- the optics of Ibn Sahl and Alhazen
- medieval Latin diffusion (Gerard of Cremona, Roger Bacon)
- mathematical study of vision and burning mirrors