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reflection
reflection return of a wave from a surface that it strikes into the medium through which it has traveled. The general principles governing the reflection of light and sound are similar, for both normally travel in straight lines and both are wave phenomena. Objects are visible because of the light ...
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Lambeth Conference
Lambeth Conference convocation at Lambeth Palace, London, that brings together all the bishops in the Anglican Communion . It meets about every 10 years at the invitation of the archbishop of Canterbury and is the principal instrument of international Anglican life, although it has no legislative ...
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albedo
albedo , reflectivity of the surface of a planet, moon, asteroid, or other celestial body that does not shine by its own light. Albedo is measured as the fraction of incident light that the surface reflects back in all directions. A perfect reflector by definition has an albedo of unity, i.e., all t...
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optics
optics scientific study of light . Physical optics is concerned with the genesis, nature, and properties of light; physiological optics with the part light plays in vision ; and geometrical optics with the reflection and refraction of light as encountered in the study of the mirror and the ...
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focus
focus in optics, the point at which rays converge after reflection by a concave mirror or refraction by a convex lens , also known as a real focus. The point from which rays appear to diverge after reflection by a convex mirror or refraction by a concave lens is known as a virtual focus. See im...
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John Hadley
John Hadley 1682-1744, English instrument maker. An optician by trade, Hadley built reflecting telescopes, based on Newton's model, that had greater resolution than the cumbersome refractors then in use. In 1731 he built a reflecting octant, based on Newton's sketch, that prefigured the modern naut...
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iridescence
iridescence , exhibition of rainbowlike colors on a surface. It usually results from interference when light composed of different wavelengths is reflected from the superficial layers of organic or inorganic substances, e.g., minerals, mother-of-pearl, and the feathers of birds. Iridescence greatl...
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Dmitri Kabalevsky
Dmitri Kabalevsky , 1904-87, Soviet composer. His large output includes the opera Colas Breugnon (1938); The Commedians suite (1940); a Requiem (1963); concertos for piano, for violin, and for cello; orchestral and choral symphonies; and piano and chamber works. His music often reflects the infl...
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reliquary
reliquary , receptacle containing the relics of saints and other sacred objects of the Christian religion. Reliquaries were often designed in shapes that reflected the nature of their contents, such as hands, shoes, buildings, and heads. They were richly decorated with gold, silver, enamel, and jewe...
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William Wotton
William Wotton 1666-1727, English scholar. He is best known for his Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning (1694), a defense of contemporary learning written in response to an essay by Sir William Temple . Both Wotton and Temple were satirized by Swift in Battle of the Books (1704).
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