All About Glass

All About Glass

This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.

Reflections on Glass: Telescope Mirrors
Article

I contrived heretofore, a perspective by Reflexion.       — Sir Isaac Newton, c. 1668 The refracting telescope gave astronomers their first up-close glimpses of the heavens. Then, it began to frustrate them. At higher magnifications, the instrument’s glass lenses produced distorted images.

Isaac Newton, Opticks: Or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light, 1704
Article

Isaac Newton (1642–1727) is often described as the greatest of all scientific thinkers. He is most famous, perhaps, for having formulated the universal law of gravitation, as well as the laws of motion. However, his interests also included alchemy, theology, mathematics, and the branch of physics