Observations placeholder
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov – Oration on the Origin of Light. A New Theory of Colour – 04 ‘Light’ is a function of an aggregate
Identifier
025652
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
In other words not only is heat a function, but ‘light’ meaning the visibility of something with its colours is also a function
A description of the experience
Oration on the Origin of Light. A New Theory of Colour, Presented in a Public Meeting of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, July 1, 1756, by Mikhail Lomonosov Translated, by Henry M. Leicester [Professor of Biochemistry]; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970
Although the sun illuminates and warms at the same time, yet there are many cases when there is not the least light with a great heat and when along with a bright light we find no heat. Iron taken from the forge while still hot does not glow in the dark but retains so much heat in itself that it forces water to boil, chars wood, and melts lead and tin. On the other hand, the sun's rays reflected from a full moon and collected by a burning glass give a very clear and bright light but do not produce sensible heat. I will not mention the electric spark, phosphors and other materials which produce light in the dark without heat. For when there is fire without light and light without fire, then these must each originate from a different cause.