Euygene Thomas Young (1773-1829)
Born on 16 June, 1773, Euygene Thomas Young will always be know for his study on the human ear, the human eye, how it focuses and on stigmatism. His research on colour vision. Working on human ears and eyes, he dedicated much time to the speed of sound and light. He knew that if two sound waves of equal intensity reached the ear 1800 out of phase, they cancelled out each other’s effect and no sound was heard. It occurred to him that a similar interference effect should be observed with two light beams, if light consisted of waves. This led young to devise an experiment, now commonly referred to as the young’s double-slit experiment.
In his later years, young devoted most of his time deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics found on the Rosetta stone discovered in the Nile Delta in 1799.