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Definition: Young, Thomas from Philip's Encyclopedia

English physicist and physician. He revived the wave theory of light first put forward in the 17th century by Christiaan Huygens. He helped present the Young-Helmholtz theory of colour vision and detailed the cause of astigmatism. He studied elasticity, giving his name to the tensile elastic (Young's) modulus. Young was also an Egyptologist who helped decipher the Rosetta stone.

Young, Thomas

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
English physicist, physician, and Egyptologist who revived the wave theory of light and identified the phenomenon of interference in 1801. He also established many important concepts in mechanics. In 1793, Young recognized that focusing of the eye ( accommodation ) is achieved by a change of shape in the lens of the eye, the lens being composed of muscle fibres. He also showed that astigmatism is due to irregular curvature of the cornea. In 1801, he became the first to recognize that colour sensation is due to the presence in the retina of structures that respond to the three colours red, green, and violet. Young was born in Milverton, Somerset. A child prodigy, he had learned most European and many ancient languages by the age of 20. He studied medicine in London and at Edinburgh and Göttingen, Germany. He was professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution 1801–03 and worked as a physician at St George's Hospital, London, from 1811. Young assumed that light waves are…
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Full text Article Young, Thomas (1773-1829)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Subject : biography, physics Place : United Kingdom, 'England English physicist and physician who discovered the principle of interference of light, showing it to be caused by light waves. He also made important discoveries in the physiology of vision and is also remembered for Young's modulus, the…
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Full text Article Young, Thomas 1773–1829.

From The American Heritage Dictionary of Medicine
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Full text Article Young-Helmholtz theory

From Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
: a theory in color vision: the eye has three separate elements each of which is stimulated by a different primary color Young, Thomas (1773–1829), British physician, physicist, and Egyptologist. Young is remembered for his efforts to win broad acceptance for the undulatory theory of light. His…
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Full text Article INVESTIGATION

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
American historian In the laboratories of Europe and America investigations are this very moment being made into Nature's securest secrets. The mystery of today will be tomorrow's accepted and commonplace truth. One seizes one's head and The Young Man and the World Chapter VIII (p. 306 ) D. Appleton…
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Full text Article PHYSIC

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
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Full text Article CHARACTER

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
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Full text Article Young modulus

From The Chambers Dictionary
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Full text Article Young's modulus

From The Macquarie Dictionary
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Full text Article TEACHER

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
American man of letters A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops. The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography Chapter XX (p. 300 ) Houghton Mifflin & Co. Boston Massachusetts USA . 1918. American mathematics teacher The responsibility of developing and impr... …
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