Ben Bova - The Story of Light

by

DR. BEN BOVA

Produced by ReAnimus Press

Other books by Dr. Ben Bova:

The Exiles Trilogy

The Star Conquerors (Collectors' Edition)

The Star Conquerors (Standard Edition)

Colony

The Kinsman Saga

Vengeance of Orion

Orion in the Dying Time

Orion and the Conqueror

Orion Among the Stars

Star Watchmen

As on a Darkling Plain

The Winds of Altair

Test of Fire

The Weathermakers

The Dueling Machine

The Multiple Man

Escape!

Forward in Time

Maxwell's Demons

Twice Seven

The Astral Mirror

Immortality

Space Travel - A Science Fiction Writer's Guide

The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells

2012, 2001 by Dr. Ben Bova. All rightsreserved.

http://ReAnimus.com/authors/drbenbova

Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading thisbook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your useonly, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respectingthe hard work of this author.

~~~

To Lloyd McDaniel, Webmaster extraordinaire and aneven better friend.

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Full many a glorious morn have I seen

Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,

Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy...

William Shakespeare

Sonnet III

This is the story of light, how it affects us everyday of our lives; how it has shaped every aspect of our existence,from our religions to our sex drives; how the search forunderstanding light has led scientists to our modern knowledge ofthe universe; how we use light in art, science, industry,entertainment, cosmetics, jewelry, and much, much more.

This book began with the idea that I wanted to writeabout the myriad ways that light affects our minds and bodies, theworld around us, and the great infinite universe of stars andgalaxies.

In 1988, I wrote a similar book, The Beauty ofLight. Yet so much more has been learned about everything fromcataract surgery to the search for extraterrestrial life that Ifelt compelled to return to the subject of light and begin anew.This book is based on that earlier work, but it is a completereworking of it, with new material in every section, almost everypage.

The more I studied and wrote about light, the more Ifound to study and write about. Light affects us in so many ways.We use light every moment of our waking lives, and we even use thevisual cortex in the rear hemisphere of the brain while we sleep.Vision is the most important of our five senses, and by far therichest in information content. Scientists have extended our visiondown to the very atoms with their microscopes, and astronomers haveentered into a new era of telescope-building, allowing us to seefarther into the universe, even to the very edge of creationitself.

As a result, this book touches on hundreds oftopicslightly. What I have tried to do is simply sit down and chatwith you, to tell you about all the fascinating, surprising, andwonderful things that we do with light and that light does for us.This is by no means a textbook. It does not pretend to offer thecomplete or definitive story on any of the topics it discusses. Itis meant merely to inform you, perhaps to delight you, and tointrigue you enough so that you will understand and appreciate thewonders that strike your eyes every day.

The White Queen in Lewis Carrolls Through theLooking Glass exclaimed, Why, sometimes Ive believed as manyas six impossible things before breakfast! This book will not dealwith impossible things, but I fondly hope that you will findsurprising things, new ideas, and fresh insights on just aboutevery page. I have tried to keep the tone of the writing informaland conversational. Still, I believe that you will learn a gooddeal. At the very least, you ought to get a few smart new items ofinformation to spring on your friends at your next party.

The plan of the book is straightforward. In thefirst section, we examine how light has affected life from thebeginnings of the Earth down to the present day; we pay particularattention, of course, to the human visual system and to lightseffects on our lives and our societies. Then, we look at howscientists have tracked down the very nature of light and learnedwhat it is and how it works. In the third section, we see how weuse light in art, science, and technologyfrom Ice Age cavepaintings to modern motion pictures and rock concerts, fromprimitive heliographs to modern lasers and optical communicationssystems. Finally, we turn our vision toward the stars to show howthose lights in the sky are telling us that we may not be alone inthe universe. The starry messengers are revealing to us the storyof creation; astronomers, astrophysicists, and cosmologists aretrying to decipher their messages.

Each section can be read independently of theothers. For example, if you are not terribly interested in whatNewton and Einstein and generations of other physicists havelearned about the nature of light, you can skip the second sectionand go on to read how artists and engineers and theater folk uselight.

Some topics are discussed in greater detail thanothers. I must confess that the decisions on how deeply to delveinto one subject or another were based mainly on my personalpreferences. I concentrated on those areas that I believe are mostfascinating and spent less time on those that seem more commonplaceto me. I hope you share my interests. If not, rest assured that thebibliography lists other books and journal articles in which youcan read all the details you want about any subject coveredhere.

A book of this breadth cannot be produced by oneperson alone. Many peoplefriends, colleagues, scientists, andartistshave shared their thoughts and their time with me. I amparticularly indebted to William Borucki, Mark Chartrand, LynnHarper, Irving Levitt, and Lloyd McDaniel, who generously sharedtheir expertise.

I also want to thank Dominique Raccah, Ray Bennett,and Hillel Black of Sourcebooks, Inc., for their enthusiasm andinsightful editorial guidance, and Barbara Bova for herintelligence, initiative, passion, and patience.

Ben Bova

Naples, Florida

This book makes use of sidebars, footnotes, andother inset material that is relevant to the surrounding text butnot in the same flow of the text. In print these are normallyobvious, set off by borders, shaded backgrounds, etc. Many ebookreaders are unable to accommodate this, thus we have highlightedthese with background colors. Unfotunately, some devices, such assome Kindles, do not display background colors, so we have markedthe beginning and end of these areas with v~~~v and ^~~~^.

The best thing that were

Put here fors to see...

Robert Frost

The Star-Splitter

With those words, God began the creation of theuniverse, according to the first chapter of Genesis. Thefundamental act of creation was to divide light from darkness.

We are creatures of the light. The light of the Sungives life to our world. The light of fire is the basis of allhuman civilization.

The power and beauty of light are so fundamental toour lives that we incorporate the metaphors of vision and lightinto our everyday language without even thinking about it. I seewhat you mean, we say, because seeing is believing, isnt it?