Sir david brewster biography graphic organizer
Scholastic biography poster report!
Jedburgh, where David Brewster was born |
Sir David Brewster, FRS, lived from 11 December 1781 to 10 February 1868. He was a renowned scientist who made a particular contribution in the field of optics.
Sir david brewster biography graphic organizer
The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
David Brewster was born in Jedburgh, where his father was rector of the local grammar school. At the age of 12 he went to the University of Edinburgh to study, his family thought, for the clergy.
Brewster duly obtained his theology degree and qualified to become a church minister. He never did so, however, becoming increasingly interested in the physical properties of light.
Brewster went on to make a series of discoveries, sometimes in parallel with the likes of Etienne Louis Malus and Augustin Fresnel working in France.
He was particularly engaged in the areas of the polarisation of light, of refraction and reflection, and the absorptio