Abstract
It was Newton’s ideas about light and the impossibility of correcting for refrangibility by mixing complementary lenses that significantly slowed the production of achromatic lenses, as they were seen to be of no use in telescope manufacture. At the same time, his ideas did create some speculations over the value of using mirrors over lenses.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Faulhaber, C. 1900. Construction of Large Telescope Lenses. Popular Astronomy 13: 534–542.
Forbes, G. 1909. History of Astronomy. London: Watts and Co.
Gregory, J. 1663. Optica Promota. London: J. Hayes.
Hevelius, J. 1672. Extract of a Letter of Monsieur Hevelius from Dantzick Written to the Publisher in Latin, March 9. (st. nov.) 1672; Giving Some Accompt of a New Comet, Lately Seen in that Country: Englished as followeth. Philosophical Transactions 7: 4017–4018.
Newton, I. 1672. An Accompt of a New Catadioptrical Telescope Invented by Mr. Newton, Fellow of the R. Society, and Professor of the Mathematiques in the University of Cambridge. Philosophical Transactions 7: 4004–4010.
———. 1687. Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Translation available: The Principia trans. by I. Cohen and A Whitman, California University Press, 1999. London.
———. 1704. Opticks, or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. London.
Smith, R. 1738. A Compleat System of Opticks in Four Books, viz. a Popular, a Mathematical, a Mechanical, and a Philosophical Treatise. To Which Are Added Remarks Upon the Whole. Cambridge: for the Author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wall, W. (2018). The Ascent of the Mirror Lens and Reflecting Telescopes. In: A History of Optical Telescopes in Astronomy. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99088-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99088-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99087-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99088-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)