Timeline Note — Historical Development of Optics — Notes

Year	Scientist	Contribution
~300 BCE	Euclid	Wrote "Optica" — first systematic study of the geometry of vision and light travel.
~1000 CE	Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)	"Book of Optics" — first correct model of vision (eye receives light, doesn't emit it); studied reflection, refraction, and lens magnification.
1621	Willebrord Snell	Discovered Snell's law of refraction (though not published by him directly).
1637	René Descartes	Published Snell's law mathematically in "La Dioptrique." Also explained the rainbow.
1668	Isaac Newton	Built first reflecting telescope (concave mirror); explained dispersion of white light into ROYGBIV by prism (1672).
1678	Christiaan Huygens	Wave theory of light; Huygens' principle (wavefronts); explained double refraction in Iceland spar.
1704	Isaac Newton	"Opticks" published — comprehensive work on light, colors, and optics.
1800	Thomas Young	Double-slit experiment proving wave nature of light.
~1850	James Prescott Joule / George Biddell Airy	Development of corrective lenses for astigmatism and other eye defects.
1870	John Tyndall	Demonstrated total internal reflection in water streams — precursor to optical fibre.
1870	John Tyndall	Showed light can be guided along a curved water jet by TIR — first demonstration of the optical fibre principle.
1880s	Ernst Abbe	Developed microscope optics theory; founded Carl Zeiss foundation; formulated resolution limit.
1966	Charles Kao	Theoretical work on fibre optics for communication (Nobel Prize 2009).