vbid/9783319479910

Description

This book provides the first critical edition of Ibn al-Haytham�s�On the Shape of the Eclipse with English translation and commentary, which records the first scientific�analysis of the camera obscura. On the Shape of the Eclipse includes pioneering research on the conditions of formation of the image, in a time deemed to be committed to aniconism.�It also provides an early attempt to merge the�two branches of Ancient optics�the theory of light and theory of vision. What perhaps most strongly characterizes this treatise is the close interaction of a geometric analysis of light and experimental reasoning. Ibn al-Haytham conducted his experiments in a systematic way by varying all that could be changed: the shape and size of the aperture, the focal length of the camera obscura, the distance and shape of the celestial bodies. This way, he achieved a thorough understanding. This work represents a decisive step in both the history of optics and the application of the experimental method that was just as efficient in medieval Islam as today.Typham this is the title: A Critical Edition of Ibn al-Haytham�s On the Shape of the Eclipse The First Experimental Study of the Camera Obscura