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Mie Theory, Airy Theory, and the Natural Rainbow

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Abstract

A commonplace of optics history is that Newton’s (and Descartes’) geometrical optics dominated 18th-century rainbow theory. Similarly, George Airy’s 1838 interference/diffraction theory built on Thomas Young’s work and held sway for several decades in the 19th century, although not without early detractors. The ascendance of these theories clearly depended on their ability to explain naked-eye features of the natural rainbow (i.e., bows seen in rain, clouds, or spray). However, Airy theory was soon held to a different standard: predicting the angular positions of intensity maxima and minima for spheres and cylinders illuminated by nearly monochromatic light (Boyer 1987, pp. 304-310). Despite early success with such predictions, Airy theory was found wanting by 1888, when one experimenter said that his measurements showed it to be “but a first approximation” (Boyer 1987, p. 313).

© 1997 Optical Society of America

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