The Methods Of Science & Medieval Rainbows

It happened again! I love it when my interests align.

Not too long ago, Veritasium released a fascinating video on the physics of rainbows—which you should totally watch. In that video they discuss the mechanics of how light waves of differing wavelengths refract in water droplets to form various kinds of single and double-banded rainbows. The video is a pitch to get the viewer to question their prior knowledge of how rainbows work and then it uses that question to dive in to the deeper physics of light that explain an otherwise common phenomenon.

Source: Veritasium

What I didn't expect to find, was that rainbows are not just interesting mechanistically, but that they were a particularly insightful topic of discussion for medieval scholastics when debating the importance of scientific experimentation itself!

Beware, we're going deep into the weeds!

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