A Phenomenological Study of Rainbows

Johan Wolfgang von Goethe is known as a celebrated German poet however his scientific accomplishments have remained rather unknown. Yet Goethe had a keen interest in all the science of his time and he has written a number of books and writings on mineralogy geology botany morphology osteology zoology meteorology chemistry physics and chromatics. This work concentrates on Goethe's studies of prismatic color phenomena and the formation of rainbows from a phenomenological point of view they are also compared to the Newtonian physics of the time. 46 color photographs are included which illustrate the studied phenomena. Goethe's phenomenological way of doing science can be said to be complementary to way of mathematical physics.