National Museum of American History
Polariscope
nineteenth century
This polariscope consists of a hollow darkened brass tube (19 inches long) with a mirror at either end that sits on a brass stand (10 inches high). It demonstrates the fact, found by Étienne Malus in 1808, that light can be polarized by reflection. The U.S. Military Academy probably purchased it from Lerebours in Paris in 1830.
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