Alhazen’s Paradox Revisited: Unraveling an 11th Century Optical Enigma

Maria L Calvo¹ and Gabriel F Calvo^2
1Department of Optics, Faculty of Physics Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
²Department of Mathematics, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Dedicated to Prof Kehar Singh on the occasion of his 84^th Birth Day on July 3, 2025

This paper, dedicated to honoring Prof Kehar Singh, offers a concise yet insightful overview of the life and scientific contributions of the 11th-century Arab Scholar Alhazen. Renowned for his magnum opus, The Book of Optics, Alhazen made ground breaking advancements in the field of optics, including formulating the famous “Alhazen’s Problem”—a longstanding paradox in geometrical optics. In this work, we present an unexpected solution to this intriguing problem, shedding new light on its significance and reinforcing Alhazen’s enduring legacy in the history of science. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Doi: XXX
Keywords: History of science, History of optics, Geometrical optics.

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References

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