In this extract from the new book Beautiful Experiments: An Illustrated History of Experimental Science, science writer Philip Ball explains how Isaac Newton transformed our understanding of light.

Details Equipment [1] Overhead projector [1] Prism [2] Sheet of thick cardboard Classroom Assembly Place the cardboard on the projector so that the projector will emit a thin vertical line of light.

This article was originally published with the title “Experiment on the Refraction and Dispersion of Light” in SA Supplements Vol. 29 No. 754supp (June 1890), p. 12050 doi:10.1038 ...

R. A. Bagnold, Experiments on a Gravity-Free Dispersion of Large Solid Spheres in a Newtonian Fluid under Shear, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical ...