Alexander's band
Banda de Alejandro
- Date
- c. 200 CE · confidence low
- Place
- Aphrodisias, Caria (now Turkey)
- Credited to
- Alexandros of Aphrodisias
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
The dark band of sky between the primary and secondary rainbow, first described by the philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias, who explained it by the differing angles of light deviation in each bow.
What it led to
- Earliest recorded explanation of an atmospheric optical phenomenon
- Historical basis for the geometric optics of the rainbow
- A reference point in the history of optical meteorology