Diffraction of light
Difracción de la luz
- Date
- 1665 · confidence high
- Place
- Bologna, Italy
- Credited to
- Francesco Maria Grimaldi
- People
- 👤 Francesco Maria Grimaldi1618–1663
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
Light passing through an aperture bends and produces fringes in the shadow; Grimaldi coins the term 'diffraction'. The first sign that light does not travel only in straight lines, and of its wave nature.
Published posthumously in 'Physico-mathesis de lumine' (1665).
What it led to
- Huygens and Young's wave theory
- Fresnel's optics
- Diffraction gratings and spectroscopy
- Resolution limit of optical instruments
Built on
- Kepler's optics
- Camera obscura experiments
Made possible
- Diffraction gratings
- X-ray crystallography (by analogy)