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Incoming links: On the Theory of Light and Colours by Thomas Young
Thomas Young (scientist) Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Thomas Young developed the wave account of optical wave interference. His Bakerian lecture, read in 1801 and published in 1802, relates reinforcement and cancellation to the relative arrival of waves. In modern notation, two equal-amplitude coherent light fields give , where is their relative wave phase. The dark fringes are therefore a measurable consequence of adding fields before calculating intensity. This is a modern expression of the interference principle, rather than a quotation of his notation.[ref]
On the Theory of Light and Colours by Thomas Young. 1802, Proposition VIII, coincident undulations and interference; modern equal-amplitude example
A physicist appointed professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution in 1801.[ref]
Young; Thomas (1773–1829); physician, physicist and Egyptologist by Royal Society. Activity, Career: interference research and appointment as professor of natural philosophy in 1801
Portrait of Thomas Young (scientist)
. Henry Perronet Briggs, 1822, after Thomas Lawrence; commissioned by Hudson Gurney. Public domain: PD-Art, life plus 100 years and U.S. publication before 1931. Source usage terms, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.