2.1

Stars in history of optics

Actually, the history of optics is as long as physics. Whether in the Orient or in the West there were many stars in ancient history. We take the ancient map in Turkey as a beginning, and give the students a mystery about prehistoric civilization.

We take some stars in Pre-Qin and ancient Greece periods, such as the “Light Eight” of Mozi (BC 468-BC376) in Mohist Classic including the law of linear propagation of light in the description of small hole imaging experiment, and the law of concave mirror imaging. But the area from the center to focus point of a concave mirror did not be described in Mohist Classic.

We introduce the origin of the word “optics”, it comes from the word “optic”, with the origin of the Greek “oπτικó” with the meaning of something related to “vision”. There were three theories of vision: the emission theory of Plato (BC427-BC347), supported by Euclid (BC330-BC275) after some hundred years later, the incoming theory of Epicurus (BC341-BC270), and the emission-incoming theory of Aristotle (BC384-BC322) and Ptolemy (90-168). From these the students can recognize that optics and the relevant technologies are around us all day long, all night long. Euclid’s optics and his linking the vision to geometry, and Ptolemy’s research on refraction are also the contents of the course.

Then we look back to the early 11th century to know the book of optics written by Ibn-al-Heitham (965-1039), and then the Centennial Translation campaign and the Renaissance, specially pay attention to the social development of that time.

Of course, Shen Kuo (1031-1095), Roger Bacon(1214-1294), Willebrord Snell (1580-1626), Pierre de Fermat(1601-1665), Isaac Newton (1643-1727), Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961), L. de Broglie (1892-1987), and many other great scientists are also stars in the history of optics. They are introduced in this course.

Not only great scientists, but also optical engineers are introduced to the students, just as Ernst Abbe (1840-1905) and Carl Zeiss (1816-1888). We give our respects to the stars for their contribution to today’s development and our lives. We review the creation of the company Schott and Zeiss, and all kinds of precise optical instruments today, with thinking about the significance of industrialization of scientific and technological products, and the role in human history. For students from different specialties, entrepreneurial spirit is also a title to be thought. What is the most important to run a century business is also discussed in our class.

2.2

Academic contending and great inventions: the relationship with human civilization

A classic academic contending that lasted from 17th century to 19th century was about the nature of light. The particle theory of light was supported by geometrical optics, while the wave theory of light was supported by interference and diffraction. Each of them had succeeded, but neither could explain all the light phenomena at that time. Till the end of 19th century, the wave-particle duality as the nature of light was finally recognized. This long period gives us a lesson that not everything has a definite option, and a clear boundary is not necessary for the nature of things. The seemingly contradictory parts are often combined together. The road to the truth is not straight. Contending is one of the ways to approach the truth.

We give some typical examples to demonstrate the relationship between optics and human civilization. Some examples are following:

(1) Galileo and his telescope

Galileo’s observations on the sky directly supported the renewal of the view of universe, and his letter² to the Grand Duchess Christina in 1615 as shown in figure 1 played an important role not only in optics or physics, but also in the history of political ideology. We provide the website to the students to read this letter from which we study his scientific spirit, and this is the true value of science.

Figure 1.

Galileo’s letter to the Grand Duchess Christina in 1615²

(3) Photo-communication and information-based society

This is a quite important content we cannot ignore. The information-based society is built upon the foundation of information dissemination. Optical technology changes the means of information communication, and makes the society more transparent. Education, trade, public management, their styles are quite different from before, just like they were changed by industrial revolution. This is one of the most typical examples that our lives and ideas are changed by light-based technologies.

Spectral technology, material component detection and food safety, biological imaging, these topics tell the students about the relevance of optical technology and daily life, safety, remote sensing, resource prospecting, life sciences, and etc. Figure 2 is a screenshot about spatial resolution of biological imaging techniques. Figure 3 is a photo in our classroom where Dr. Kaiwei Wang was giving a lesion about the application of light-based technologies.

Figure 2.

Spatial resolution of biological imaging techniques

Figure 3.

Dr. Kaiwei Wang was teaching: from daily life to aerospace

2.3

Research melody

In this course, we give some examples about research melody as following:

(1) Induction and deduction

A typical example is the path from the law of linear propagation of light to Fermat’s principle. This is a procedure of induction. As the same as above, Maxwell concluded his equations from 4 electric-magnetic equations. We draw a chart according to the time sequences shown in figure 4. Today, when we deduce the laws of geometrical optics, we make the Maxwell’s equations as a beginning, then we deduce the wave equation, and then the ray equation or Lagrangian description of Fermat’s principle as it was named is obtained. At last, from Fermat’s principle the law of refraction (Snell’s law), law of reflection, and the law of linear propagation of light can be obtained as shown in figure 5. This illustrate that looking forward and looking backward are the same important in discovering and invention.

Figure 4.

Time node of basic laws of geometrical optics

Figure 5.

Deduction of the basic laws of geometrical optics

2.4

Nobel Prize winners and their contribution to human civilization

One lesson about the Nobel Prize winners and their contribution to the world is arranged in the teaching plan.

In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to three blue LED inventors, “for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.”⁴ We review the development of light source, take the invention of blue LED as an example of field-cross innovation of optics and material science, and to explore its meaning in sustainable development and saving energy from the award ceremony speech, in which the important events were reviewed including that our ancestor mastered the fire about 300,000 years ago, Thomas Edison (1847-1931) invented electric bulb in the late 19th century and LED was invented and improved.

In 2009, the father of optical fiber Kuen Kao and the CCD inventors Boyle and Smith awarded the prize. As said in the award ceremony speech⁵, “we can phone someone on the other side of the globe and have a conversation while enjoying the same sound quality as if we were talking to someone in the same room. Likewise, we take it for granted that we can view photos and video reports of events on other continents at the same instant as they unfold. Our computers are linked up to the world-wide Internet, which has become an almost indispensable element of modern society. It provides efficient communication channels between people and quick access to the information we need at the moment.” Obviously, one hour of lesson is not enough to know every Nobel Prize winner. We can only pick up a few leaves in the forest of Nobel Prize winners.

2.5

Advantages and disadvantages of light-based technologies

In our course the disadvantages of light-based technologies are the same important as their advantages. This is because when a novel technology is invented, it brings us not only the resolves to certain problems, but also brings us new problems. For example:

Considering the city lighting and lighting pollution, can we today live again under the brilliant stars of our childhood?

Industrialization caused today’s rich-poor gap. Will informatization cause the rich-poor gap in future? Is the Matthew effect also exist in the process of informatization? Is it good or bad that the robots enter the assembly line and lead to the unemployment of simple labor? How to remove the digital gap? What can we do for this?

Does internet addiction affect people’s social interaction? Are human-machine relations becoming closer while the interpersonal relations becoming impersonal?

Are science and technology always civilized? Are there forbidden areas in science research? If so, what areas?

What will the earth be like in future?

There are no standard answers of these questions. These are the problems that should be considered by everyone.