BBC: Light Fantastic, pt. 2/4 -- The Light of Reason

Light Fantastic is the title of a television documentary series that explores the phenomenon of light and aired in December 2004 on BBC Four. The series comprised four programmes respectively titled: "Let There be Light"; "The Light of Reason"; "The Stuff of Light"; and "Light, The Universe and Everything." The material was presented by Cambridge academic Simon Schaffer.

The second episode explores the link between the development of practical tools that manipulate light and the emergence of new ideas. The subject is examined through the work of Tycho Brahe; Galileo; Vermeer; Robert Hooke; William Herschel; Ole Rømer; Charles Darwin and Ernest Rutherford.

Brahe was granted the island of Hven by Denmark's Frederick II. From here he observed a comet in 1577. Tycho's measurements proved that the Church's traditional view of the Universe must be wrong.

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