Islamic Scientists Compasses Glass Mirrors Clocks Purified Alcohol Optics Home	The first extensive description of sight was published in a five volume Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni. This revolutionary work was published by al-Haytham in the eleventh century and included almost all of the advancements that Newton made regarding light and vision. It is therefore arguable that the true "father of optics" was al-Haytham a renowned Islamic Physicist. Al-Haytham discovered, in the eleventh century, that white light was actually composed of a mixture of colored light which could be separated using a prism. Al-Haytham also provided the first description of sight and began using glass lenses to improve vision. By the time this feat was mentioned by Roger Bacon in 1292, eyeglasses could already be found in China and Europe.	Contact the Authors at: lmatt@usd.edu mfsuing@usd.edu jzell@usd.edu