Kitab al-Manazir by Ibn al Haytham (AD 1021)
The Book of Optics (Kitab al-Manazir) is a seven volume treatise by Abu Ali alHasan ibn al-Haytham(965 AD - 1040 AD), known as Alhazen in the west. The work explored a variety of topics including light, color, and how the eye works. Most notably, the work looked at intromission and extramission, the two common theories about how vision functioned at the time. Ibn al-Haytham argued that rays of light were omitted from objects to be perceived by the eye using the cone of vision model. His work in optics helped to shape the theory of perspective through the medieval and Renaissance periods. This set the foundation for present day perspective and working drawings.
The book contains a complete formulation of the laws of reflection and a detailed investigation of refraction, including experiments involving angles of incidence and deviation. Refraction is correctly explained by light’s moving slower in denser mediums. The work also contains “Alhazen’s problem”—to determine the point of reflection from a plane or curved surface, given the centre of the eye and the observed point—which is stated and solved by means of conic sections. The book greatly influenced the development of optics, physics and mathematics in Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries.
