The Refraction of Light
Ever since the discovery of glass, people have pondered the natural phenomenon known as light refraction. People noticed that when light passed through a piece of curved glass, the light would change direction. Many mathematicians throughout the ages attempted to formalize and define exactly how it worked, but the math nearly always eluded them. Finally, in the 17th century a Dutch mathematician and astronomer named Willebrord Snellius introduced the world to Snell’s Law, or the Law of Refraction.*
From: Wikimedia Foundation
*It’s worth noting that
Snellius may not have actually been the one to
originally discover the Law of Refraction. Researcher
Roshdi Rashed makes a compelling argument that the
original person to formalize the law was Arabic
scientist Ibn al-Haytham during the late 10th century.