"The least light or part of light, which may be stopt alone, without the rest of the light, or propagated alone, or do or suffer any thing alone, which the rest of the light doth not or suffereth not, is called a Ray of light. That rays of light are straight, is evident enough from the shadows of bodies; or from the appearance of light passing through little holes into a dark room full of dust or smoke; or because bodies cannot be seen through the bore of a bended pipe; or because they cease to be seen by the interposition of other bodies, as the fixt stars by the interposition of the moon and planets; and the parts of the sun by the interposition of the Moon, Mercury or Venus. Rays of light may therefore be represented by straight lines, not Mathematical but Physical, which are described by the motion of the parts or particles of light: and the point which a ray possesses in falling upon any surface may be considered as a Physical Point."
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Book I, Ch. I.
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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