"This book traces the interplay of the forces in the history of light from the seventeenth century to the present. It provides engaging portraits of many of the scientists whose achievements constituted that history, and of major inventors and artistic and literary figures who contributed to or were influenced by it. The result is a book written in a style eminently suitable for a general audience." Prof. Roger Stuewer History of Science, Univ. of Minnesota From Leonardo to Oppenheimer, from candles to lasers, from cave drawings to cinema, from stonehenge to quantum mechanics, from Genesis to the Big Bang, light has filled our thoughts, our way of life, our aesthetics, our technology, and our means for survival. Richard Weiss leads us along these paths over the past 500 light years. The way is lit by pioneers such as Rembrandt, Einstein, D W Griffith, Newton, and Heisenberg. A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIGHT, AND THOSE THAT LIT THE WAY is a summer's day roller-coaster ride through five centuries of man's achievements in understanding and manipulating light.