Understanding diffraction and dispersion is key to optical science, influencing technologies like spectroscopy, fiber optics, ...

Occasionally, science museums can stimulate new science. Inspired by an exhibit on an optical experiment performed by Isaac Newton, physicists have taken the first X-ray snapshot of a microscopic ...

Have you ever noticed the colors of the rainbow or the colors that sometimes appear on the wall when light passes through a glass of water? In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) conducted a series of ...

Twenty-odd years before Newton stated the three laws of motion, he conducted a simple, breakthrough prism experiment. He poked a hole through his window shade, allowing a single beam of light to shine ...

Newton finally suggested that it might be both, without being able to prove it. In the 19th century, several physicists in ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it. We all love our most cherished ideas about how the world and the ...

The double-slit experiment is one of the most famous experiments in physics and definitely one of the weirdest. It demonstrates that matter and energy (such as light) can exhibit both wave and ...