Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 7 on 7/3/2003.

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The light fantastic

PHYSICIST SIR DAVID BREWSTER IMPRESSED ACADEMICS AND THE PUBLIC ALIKE WITH HIS BEST-KNOWN INVENTION: THE KALEIDOSCOPE

Sir David Brewster would perhaps be surprised that he is remembered principally for his invention of the kaleidoscope. This prodigious scientist and inventor in fact left a far greater legacy.

Born in 1781 in Jedburgh, near the English border, he was a child prodigy and had built a telescope by the age of 10, aided by mentor James Veitch, 10 years his senior. Initially, however, Brewster studied theology and became a minister, but found himself unable to speak in public and rapidly turned his attentions full-time to what he was best at: science.

The physics of light was his main interest, and by the time he was in his 20s, his research of optics was really taking off. He had already constructed several more telescopes and often built his own instruments or improved existing ones to aid experimentation. Brewster also wrote about optics, and edited other works, and his first paper accepted by the Royal Society, Some Properties of Light, was published in 1813.

A major scientific distinction for Brewster came through his studies of the polarisation of light by reflection and biaxial crystals, and ‘Brewster’s Law’ still offers a clear way to calculate the angle at which light must strike a material for maximum polarisation (the concentrating of light waves onto one plane).

It was in 1816 that Brewster perfected the invention of the kaleidoscope, and patented it the following year. The device was a great success, and people from all walks of life found it fascinating and charmi.....

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By Brigid James

Section : Scottish Innovators

Page number : 82