Just finished “A Short, Bright Flash; Augustine Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse,” by Theresa Levitt. This is well told and far reaching tale of the young and brilliant engineer, Augustin Fresnel, a man of fragile health and brilliant mind, who in the 39 years given to him (1788 – 1827) created in lens system that bears his name, which caused a revolution in sea travel from the 1820s to the early 1900s and whose designs are still used today in auto lenses and similar applications to harness light and efficiently direct it as a beam as never before. In doing so he advanced the wave theory of light, advancing science and industry itself. I have always been fascinated by lighthouses and the beautiful Fresnel lens that sit atop them, and have often wondered how they worked, the history of their creation, and what the science behind their application was. This smallish book of some 233 pages of text does more than answers those questions. It fleshes out the inventor and his life’s accomplishments while clearly presenting the worldwide impact of his designs and ambitions. It is a wonderful, well written and wide ranging read that places the importance of the lighthouse squarely amid world events.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 19:50:32 +0000
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