Discovery of Infrared Radiation
Descubrimiento de la radiación infrarroja
- Date
- 1800 · confidence high
- Place
- Observatory House, Slough, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- William Herschel
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
By measuring the temperature of each color in the sunlight spectrum split by a prism, Herschel found that heat kept rising beyond red, where there was no visible light: he had detected an invisible form of radiation.
Herschel called these rays 'calorific rays'; the term 'infrared' was coined decades later.
What it led to
- Birth of spectroscopy beyond visible light
- Infrared astronomy and instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope
- Technological applications: thermal imaging and infrared guidance