6 lines · 100 words · 0:33 read aloud
He Pretended to Be Mad, Then Explained Light
1
About a thousand years ago, a scholar pretended to be mad to escape a ruler's anger.
2
Ibn al-Haytham had been called to Cairo to control the floods of the Nile.
3
According to the traditional account, he realised it was impossible, and feigned madness to stay safe.
4
Confined to his house, he studied how light enters a dark room through a tiny hole.
5
His Book of Optics argued that we see because light travels from objects into our eyes, and he tested ideas with experiments.
6
It was studied for centuries, including in Europe. Not bad for a man under house arrest.
