David Brewster was the giant with the vision in his era. Among the things he was most famous for was the rediscovery of the Kaleidoscope. Although the Kaleidoscope was not his most significant discovery by far, such a craze surrounded it’s reintroduction to the world that he remained famous for it for quite a while. Unfortunately, though he patented the invention, it was soon discovered that his patent was filed wrongly and the kaleidoscope was pirated by many companies for tremendous profit. Therefore David Brewster got most of the fame without all the fortune.

As a youth, he was much exposed to the scientific mindset of the era. By the time he was born, in 11^th of December 1781 at Jedburgh, Scotland, the world has already been adamantly standing on Isaac Newton’s shoulders for more than 50 years. Newton is perhaps quite comparable to the Beatles for the youth. Newton had rocked the world like a legend that never dies, he made it in for the youth to pursue science.

David had such a great family life that he is not easily swayed by public opinion. He greatly admires his father wanting to follow in his footsteps. As a reputable preacher and teacher, his father not only gave him access to many reading materials but also sent him off to Edinburg University as an honorary student at age 11. At Edinburg he was easily able to keep up and by the time he was 19 he was also an honorary graduate with a master’s degree, but a series of fortunate events eventually persuaded him to become a scientist.

Among the friends he met is a well known self-taught mathematician, scientist, and astronomer whose specialty is to make telescopes. He had sparked a lifelong interest in the properties of light by not only helping him to make telescopes but to build better ones as well. His friends and professors also persuaded him to pursue light mechanics and other sciences. The most persuasive argument though is experience, as he tried to deliver sermons for the first time and every time he was racked with feelings of nervousness so he eventually gave in to his fear of public speaking and began to write expansively instead.

For having contributed greatly to science with inventions such as the 3D stereoscope, improvements to the spectroscope, lighthouses, optics theory, and the area of photography as well as having written over 400 publications David Brewster becomes Sir David Brewster being knighted by the king. Upon his death in 1868 only 11 years before Einstein’s birth, a panel of enthusiasts nominates him as the most influential scientist of his time. Among the things he is known for are his discoveries on:

1. The laws of polarization by reflection and refraction, and other quantitative laws of phenomena
2. The discovery of the polarizing structure induced by heat and pressure
3. The discovery of crystals with two axes of double refraction, and many of the laws of their phenomena, including the connection between optical structure and crystalline forms
4. The laws of metallic reflection

As a person, though Sir David Brewster is a philosopher and a writer, he is said to have been naïve, ill-tempered, but could be quite gracious at times. He wrote biographies on his childhood role model, Sir Isaac Newton and several other famous scientists. He became a chief editor of many scientific journals. Among his eccentricities, he also rejects the popular fad of the time called Darwinism as well as the wave theory of light.

The times have called for extreme changes, the world of David Brewster, those times of scientific popularity are long gone. After the two World Wars, the accomplishments of this great man are soon eclipsed by theories of magnetism and electricity, gravity and relativity. Though his empirical experiments seems small by comparison, Sir David Brewster’s accomplishments are such that it has stood the test of time undiminished even today with its direct application to lasers, fiber optics, and other light based gadgets. Information can be said to move at the speed of light, and the laws of light are still being discovered, but we would not be here today if it we are not able to see the world according to the many faceted eyes of kaleidoscopic giants.

References:

David Brewster. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brewster

Munday, Effie. Sir David Brewster – scientisct, creationist, preacher. http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v5/i2/brewster.asp

Sir David Brewster. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Sir_David_Brewster

Sir David Brewster. http://www-ah.st-andrews.ac.uk/mgstud/reflect/david.html

Sir David Brewster. http://www.answers.com/topic/david-brewster

Sir David Brewster. http://www.brewstersociety.com/brewster_bio.html