"[I]n 1672 Newton gave the true explanation of the facts; namely, that light consists of rays of different colours and different refrangibility. ...[T]he impression which this discovery made, both upon Newton and upon his contemporaries, shows how remote it was from the then accepted opinions. There appears to have been a general persuasion that the coloration was produced, not by any peculiarity in the law of refraction itself, but by some collateral circumstance,—some dispersion or variation of density of the light, in addition to the refraction. Newton's discovery consisted in teaching distinctly that the law of refraction was to be applied, not to the beam of light in general, but to the colours in particular."
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Book IX, Ch. 3 Discovery of the Law of Disperion by Refraction.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/History_of_optics
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History of optics
begins with the development of lenses by the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, followed by theories on light and vision developed by ancient Greek philosophers, and the development of in the Greco-Roman world. The word optics is derived from the Greek term τα ὀπτικά meaning "appearance or look". Optics was significantly reformed by the developments in the medieval Islamic world, such as the beginnings of physical and physiological optics, and then significantly advanced in early modern Europe
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