Newton played with prisms and wrote about it. A lot. I did the same thing for a fifth grade science fair project but, yeah, his was better.Opticks is supposed to be much more accessible than The Principia. Which it is, but it will still only appeal to the more meticulous, math-minded among us. Newton’s analysis of the properties of light have historical significance (specifically in regards to white light) and there were numerous equations which looked like they may mean something important. It’s Newton, so it’s a safe bet.
However, he also talks a bit about the impact of the aether and corpuscles of light. A nice reminder that even the best minds can flub it every once and awhile.
Overall, Opticks reminded me of Gilbert’s De Magnete. Gilbert conducted and recorded experiment after experiment with magnets; Newton did the same with light. It’s difficult for a layperson to fully appreciate the significance of this work in the time it was written so I’ll leave this unrated as well.
