Today is the 10th of February and it marks 153 years since the passing of Sir David Brewster who died on the 10th of February 1868.
Sir David Brewster is famous for inventing the kaeldioscope, it was first publicly announced in 1817 and was sold usually as a toy. He is also known for being an astronomer, inventor, philosopher, writer, preacher, scientist, mathematician and pretty much an unrivalled genuis of his time.
His Early Life:
Born 10 February 1868, Jedburgh Scotland (marked on map)
From a young age he was considered to be a child prodigy, at only 10 years old David Brewster was building telescopes, stereocopes and sundials.
At age 12 he was admitted into the university of Edinburgh. Whilst there he obtained a theology degree and was then qualified to become a church minister.
He also became editor of the Edinburgh Magazine and the Edinburgh Encyclopedia
Despite being a qualified church minister he left the church and decided to focus his interest on the physical properties of light, optics and the development of scientific instruments.
Brewster’s Angle:
In 1813 he discovered Brewster’s law, which states that if a beam
of light is split into a reflected ray and a refracted ray at a glass
surface, then they are polarized, and the polarization is complete when
the two rays are at right angles. The angle of incidence at which this
occurs is called the Brewster angle.
Brewster’s Angle helped to build microscopes able to observe objects at a molecular level, and helped with the tuning of radio signals. It was also important in the advancements made into fiber optics and meteorology.
The Kaledioscope:
David Brewster invented the kaledioscope in 1816 and had it patented in 1817. At first it was intended to be used as a scientific instrument. It was instead sold to the public as a toy.
He named his invention after the Greek words kalos (beautiful), eidos (form), and scopos (watcher).
which translates rougly into beautiful form watcher.
Sir David Brewster went on to even more success, most notably helping to improve the Brittish light house system and making improvements to the Stereoscope.
He also has a small crater on the moon named after him named ‘Brewster’.
Do you think David Brewster gets the recognition he deserves?
Let us know in the comments below
