Waves and Grains

This work is a result of research by Mark Silverman into the properties of light. He covers questions such as how is it possible to achieve huge magnifications without a lens or mirror? And what do all living things have in common that might one day allow the creation of a "life-form scanner".

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Mark Silverman has seen light perform many wonders. From the marvel of seeing inside cloudy liquids as a result of his own research to reproducing and examining an unusual diffraction pattern witnessed by Isaac Newton 300 years ago, he has studied aspects of light that have inspired and puzzled humans for hundreds of years. In this book, he draws on his experience as an optical and atomic physicist to present a tour of the world of light. He explores theoretical, experimental, and historical themes, showing an eye for curious and neglected corners of the study of light and a fascination with the human side of scientific discovery. In the course of the book, he covers such questions as how it is possible to achieve magnifications of a millionfold without a single lens of mirror. He asks what all living things have in common that might one day allow the development of a "life-form scanner" like the one in "Star Trek". He considers whether more light can reflect from a surface than strikes it, and explores the origin of the strange hyperbolic diffraction pattern Newton originally produced with sunlight and knives.
Silverman also discusses his new experiments to see into murky substanc