Expectation, modelling and assent in the history of optics: Part I. Alhazen and the medieval tradition

An account of the history of the science of optics focuses on the evolution of optical science from Greek theories to the work of Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham), the 11th-century Arab physicist whose work on optical theory greatly influenced European science. Alhazen built upon the Greek science of Ptolemy and others with his experimental studies of the eye and the physics of light and vision, and pioneered the use of modeling in science.