Archytas and Optics
@article{Burnyeat2005ArchytasAO, title={Archytas and Optics}, author={Myles Burnyeat}, journal={Science in Context}, year={2005}, volume={18}, pages={35 - 53} }
Argument This paper is detective work. I aim to show that the brilliant Pythagorean mathematician Archytas of Tarentum was the founder of ancient Greek mathematical optics. The evidence is indirect. (1) A fragment of Aristotle preserved in Iamblichus is one of two doxographical notices to mention Pythagorean work in optics. (2) Apuleius credits Archytas with a theory of visual rays which saves the principle that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. I argue that the source…
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Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Cambridge Trust (George and Marie Vergottis Foundation)
Pembroke College
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