Witelo and his works on optics

Abstract

AbstractWitelo (1230‐1314) was the first Polish scholar whose scientific achievements influenced European science. He was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, philosopher and theologian. Witelo studied liberal arts at the University in Paris, canon low, philosophy and scientist at the Universities at Bologna and Padua. He was interested in ancient philosophy of Aristotle and works of Islamic philosopher Averroes. He also studied the seven volume work of Islamic scientist Hasan Ibn al‐Haytham (Alhazen) translated into Latin. Two of Witelo's works have survived to our times. One is “De natura daemonum and de causa primaria poenitentiae”, second “Perspectiva”, published in 1536. This work had a major impact on the development of European science. It consists of 10 books and it is a treatise on optics. In this treatise Witelo collected the knowledge on mathematics, physics and astrology. In the books III and IV the author presented the outline of the eye structure, the mechanism of image formation in the eye and some aspects of psychology and physiology of vision. He wrote about illusions of perception, flat and parabolic mirrors, the problem of refraction of light on the border of centers of diverse optical density and meteorological optics, including the rainbow phenomenon. He was the first in Europe to present the intromission theory of light. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had lectures on optics based on both the theory of Alhazen and Witelo. The theory of Witelo was studied by Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler who wrote the treatise on optics entitled “Ad Vitelonem paralipomena”.