Fluorescence and the Stokes shift
Fluorescencia y desplazamiento de Stokes
- Date
- 1852 · confidence high
- Place
- Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- George Gabriel Stokes
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Stokes shows that certain substances, such as quinine and fluorite, absorb ultraviolet light and emit light of longer wavelength, and coins the term fluorescence. Stokes' law is the basis of fluorescence microscopy.
Herschel (1845) and Brewster had already seen the blue emission of quinine; Stokes explained it as a change of refrangibility. The date varies between 1845 and 1852.
What it led to
- fluorescence microscopy and fluorescent stains
- fluorescent lamps
- spectrofluorimetry and sensors