Giovanni Rizzetti: Challenge to Newton's Optical Experiments

This material is held atCambridge University Library

Scope and Content

The volume contains a draft letter from Rizzetti to Christino Martinelli, c.1720, with a description of Newton's experiment leading to the discovery of the aberration of light, and Rizzetti's experiment contradicting Newton's results; and two diagrams on refraction (p.13), the 'Anatomical composition of the eye' and the 'Aberration in telescopes with different lenses'. There are references to Descartes, Huygens and Tschirnhaus.

Access Information

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Acquisition Information

Purchased 1995

Other Finding Aids

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

Related Material

Newton's copy of Rizzetti's letter is at King's College (Keynes MS 103).

Bibliography

Excerpts from the letter were published in Acta Eruditorum (1726), De luminis affectionibus (Treviso, 1727), and Saggio dell' antineutonianismo sopra le leggi del moto e dei colori (Venice, 1741).