The Struggle to Understand the Theory of Diffuse Reflectance

(a) Craig Bohren took time out from walking his dogs to give me a private summary lecture on the difference between wave theory and geometric optics. Bohren Craig F. and Huffman Donald R. ; Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles; John Wiley & Sons, New York (1983) (Paperback edition: 1998); (b) Newton Roger G. , Scattering Theory of Waves and Particles. Dover Publications, New York (2002) (previous editions: 1966, 1982); (c) van de Hulst H.C. ; Light Scattering by Small Particles. Dover Publications, New York (1981) (previous edition: 1957).

There is an English translation by Stephen H. Westin of this article available on the web at http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/∼westin/pubs/kubelka.pdf. Also on the site is an “Autobiographical Sketch” written by Kubelka Paul in about 1947 at http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/∼westin/pubs/kubelka-autobio.htm

The images were formed using the Fresnel Diffraction Explorer, written by Dean Dauger. The program may be purchased for a nominal fee from Dauger Research (www.daugerresearch.com).