Iceland spar and its legacy in science

• Published in: History of Geo- and Space Sciences
• Main Author: L. Kristjánsson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2012
• Subjects: Science; Q; Geology; QE1-996.5; Dynamic and structural geology; QE500-639.5; Physics; QC1-999; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; Bartholin; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-3-117-2012; https://doaj.org/article/c6555a5e80504f839397f4783c724fba

In the late 17th century, Rasmus Bartholin and Christiaan Huygens investigated a curious optical property of crystals found at Helgustaðir in Eastern Iceland. This property which has been called double refraction, revealed in the 19th century a new aspect of light which turned out to be very useful...