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History of optics
Optics
began with the development of
lenses
by the
ancient Egyptians
and
Mesopotamians
, followed by theories on light and
vision
developed by
ancient Greek philosophers
, and the development of
geometrical optics
in the
Greco-Roman world
. The word
optics
is derived from the
Greek
term
τα ὀπτικά
meaning "appearance, look". Optics was significantly reformed by the developments in the
medieval Islamic world
, such as the beginnings of physical and physiological optics, and then significantly advanced in
early modern Europe
, where
diffractive optics
began. These earlier studies on optics are now known as "classical optics". The term "modern optics" refers to areas of optical research that largely developed in the 20th century, such as
wave optics
and
quantum optics
.
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