Abstract
THE application of a reflector to pass light back through a prism, or prisms, is usually ascribed to Littrow. Thus Kayser writes (“Handbuch der Spectroscopie”, Bd. I., p. 513), “Der Erste, der Rükkehr der Strahlen zur Steigerung der Dispersion verwandte, war Littrow” (O. v. Littrow, Wien Ber., 47, ii., pp. 26–32, 1863). But this was certainly not the first use of the method. I learned it myself from Maxwell (Phil. Trans., vol. 150, p. 78, 1860), who says, “The principle of reflecting light, so as to pass twice through the same prism, was employed by me in an instrument for combining colours made in 1856, and a reflecting instrument for observing the spectrum has been constructed by M. Porro”.
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RAYLEIGH The Principle of Reflection in Spectroscopes. Nature 89, 167 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/089167b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/089167b0
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